The More Things Change
by Buffybot
Summary: Sequel to WE'RE ALL BREAKABLE SOMETIMES. Months after Tahiri's death, Anakin sets off on his own. Zekk returns but is Jaina happy to see him? And a newlydiscovered race may be the key to helping the Jedi defeat the Yuuzhan Vong.
1. Flying Solo

**Disclaimer:**  I don't own Star Wars or any of these characters (though like many people I wish I did).   They are all the property of George Lucas, or Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.

**Author's Note:  **This story takes place approximately two months after the events in "We're All Breakable Sometimes".

 Even though the main genres are romance and drama there's some action and adventure throughout the story as well.  Hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER ONE:  FLYING SOLO  

          Sitting alone in the _Crafted Hand_, Anakin Solo waited for the ship's nav computer to signal it was time to come out of hyperspace.  The waiting did not bother him, since it was not as if he had anything better to do with his time.

          Tahiri's death had hit him hard – even harder then he had thought it would.  He could not even remember the last time he had slept through the night without waking up in a cold sweat, crying out her name.  Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her – standing there with an amphistaff sticking out of her midsection, staring at him with her green eyes full of terror before she crumpled to the ground.  The nightmares were the worst part, because every time – no matter what he tried to do differently – he still couldn't save her.  The nightmares came to him at least three or four times a week.  He thought they would have subsided after the first month, but they hadn't.

          Anakin would be the first one to admit that he had not been dealing with her death in the best of ways.

          When Master Skywalker had begun sending Jedi to help move refugees from worlds that were in danger or in the process of falling to the Yuuzhan Vong, was when his first major changes in behaviour had started appearing.

When they had already rescued as many refugees as possible without putting themselves or the ships full of rescued beings at risk, that was when the were supposed to leave.  Anakin had decided to make his own set of orders to follow.  He would continue making runs down to the planet's surfaced until he forced to jump to lightspeed in his own cramped ship because the Yuuzhan Vong had started attacking them.  More then once he had to fight his way past Vong warriors to get the last of the refugees to his ship.

It was not like he was going to get himself killed making those last few rescue attempts.  It was only the people around him who ever got hurt or lost their lives.

His Uncle Luke had been extremely concerned about the complete disregard he had for his own safety by continuously putting his life in danger.  Anakin had always been a little reckless but not to the point where he was purposely endangering his life and possibly putting others at risk as well.  When Luke had expressed his concern, Anakin had simply told him he was doing what any Jedi should: preserve justice and protect the innocent.  His Uncle had not been overly impressed with that answer, and that's what had earned Anakin a few weeks of ground time on Yavin Four.  That did not go too well either.

All the students at the praxeum had heard about what happened to Tahiri, and how Anakin had been there and seen the whole thing happen.  So, each and every time he walked into a room, all the other gossip would stop and everyone would turn and stare at him.  He had never liked being the center of attention, and liked even less the way every being there was talking about him behind his back.  With his sensitive hearing he had heard all the rumours that were going on about the incident at Rygelia.  There was everything from he killed all the Vong on the planet in a blind rage, to the reason Master Skywalker had stranded him on Yavin Four was because he was suicidal.  He could care less about them or what they said.  They knew nothing about him and had not been there on Rygelia to see what had happened for themselves.  

He had been able to maintain his air of not caring about what they said, until one day in the Jedi Academy's mess hall when he was in line to get his food, he heard the person in front of him say that maybe if they gave the Vong the planets they wanted they would stop killing and enslaving people.  Anakin had to do everything in his power to keep his temper from breaking loose at hearing that, but he could not stand there and say nothing.  Anakin had not so quietly informed the so-called Jedi, a human male named Riley, that the Vong had shown no signs of stopping their conquest of this galaxy until every planet was theirs.  Then Riley, who was a couple of years older then Anakin, had said his judgment was clouded because the Yuuzhan Vong had murdered someone close to him.  Anakin had no control over what he did next.

He did not remember actually knocking Riley to the floor, but he did remember hitting him mercilessly with his fists over and over again, until his sister and four trainees had finally managed to pull him off of Riley.

Luke Skywalker had been understanding and sympathetic about his nephew's behaviour up until that point.  Anakin had listened to his Uncle reprimand him, as he sat across from his desk with his bloody knuckles resting on the armrests of the chair – but it had not been his own blood.  It was never his own blood.  He always had the blood of someone else on his hands.

Luke had given him the famous speech 'fighting never solves anything'.  It did not matter how upset someone made you, he had said to Anakin, a Jedi used words – not fists – to solve an argument.  Anakin still thought that Riley should have kept his mouth shut because he didn't know what he was talking about.  Somehow, though, he did not think his Uncle would see that as an acceptable excuse for landing someone in the med center, so he had kept that opinion to himself.

Luke had told him his parents would be dropping by Yavin Four in the next few days, and that it would be a good idea if he went back with them to Courscant to clear his head.  Anakin knew that was his Uncle's way of politely kicking him out of the Academy until he was ready to use 'words' and not 'fists' to solve his problems.

Before he had left his office, Luke had suggested that he talk to someone about Tahiri's death, but Anakin had told him flat out he didn't need to talk to anyone.  He just needed to be left alone.

When his parents came to the jungle moon and then departed, he had gone with them.  He knew his Uncle had to have told them what had happened in the mess hall, but neither one of his parents had talked to him about the incident.  They were probably afraid he would snap on them too.

When he was back on Courscant, he and his dad had spent a lot of time together, talking and tinkering with the _Falcon_ like they had always done before Chewbacca's death.  His dad and him had finally managed to mend their relationship back to what it was before Han had blamed him for Chewie's death more than a month before.

His father had not prodded or tried to get him to talk about what he was feeling, and that's what made Anakin not mind hanging around him.  Unlike every other person in his life, his dad didn't try to force him to talk about what had happened.  If anyone knew what he was going through, it was his dad…and maybe Jaina.  But even then the both of them could only understand to a certain extent.  Chewbacca had been his father's best friend, and he had loved him – but he had not been _in _love with him – that was the big difference.  With his sister, she knew what it was like to lose someone you were in love with, but Zekk had left her – Tahiri had been _taken_ from him.  So, really, when he sat down and thought about it, he realized no one around him understood the grief and pain he was feeling inside.  There was no guilt though – well, maybe at the beginning – but he had dealt with it.  Tahiri had taught him that.

It was not long before his siblings returned to Courscant because Master Skywalker had called a meeting there, asking all the Jedi, no matter where they were in the galaxy, to attend it.  Since he had decided not to go to the meeting, he never learned what it was about.  Though Anakin was sure it was about how the Yuuzhan Vong were going to continue taking the galaxy as their own, and the only way to stop them would be for the Jedi to work together.  That's what almost all of the meetings his Uncle called were about.  If he wanted to, he could probably recite the entire lecture word for word.

Instead of going to it, he had opted to stay home, alone.  When his parents had returned to the apartment from wherever it was they had gone, they had walked in to find their sixteen-year-old son drunk.  He was not sure what had possessed him to go into his dad's liquor cabinet, but he was his father's son after all.

His mother had wanted to ground him, but his father had somehow managed to talk her out of it.  He had listened to them argue about it after they had sent him to his room.  Han had said that grounding him would make things worse – not better.  Leia had eventually caved in, on the condition that if he ever did anything that stupid or irresponsible again, he would be grounded until Dagobah became a tourist attraction.

The minute Luke had found out about the drinking incident he had made his way over to the Solo's apartment.  Anakin had expected the same lecture that he gotten from his parents, especially from his mother, on trust and responsibility, but that was not at all why Luke had come by to talk to him.  Luke had told him he was not choosing the best way to handle his grief, and that was why he thought that Anakin needed to take a break from everything and everyone.

The next thing Anakin knew, he was packing his bags and leaving Courscant on the _Crafted Hand_, the small ship his Uncle had loaned him.

He was glad to be gone because he was not even sure if he wanted to be a Jedi anymore.  He was tired of following the Jedi Code, and doing what was right all the time.  What had that ever gotten him anyways?  The answer was nothing.  More and more he found it hard to care about anything.  Nothing seemed to matter to him anymore.  What good was a Jedi who no longer had the desire to care about anyone, not even himself?

The nav computer in front of him started beeping, breaking him away from his reverie.  Anakin pulled down on the throttle and brought the ship back into normal space.

As the stars went back to their normal bright specks against a black background, he saw a bulky transport leaving the atmosphere of the planet, while sleek and heavily armed ships headed for its dry, barren surface.  Anakin followed them, bringing his own ship towards the atmosphere of Tatooine.

Tatooine was not a planet any normal person would choose to go to to get away from their problems.  For Anakin, though, this place served the purpose of reminding him of how normal everything had been before the horrible event on Rygelia.  It was here where Tahiri had found him after he had run away from Yavin Four, and had helped him work through the emotional breakdown he had been going through at the time.  It was here where they had fought side by side against Tusken Raiders.  And it was here where their friendship had begun to develop into something completely unexpected, and yet something they both wanted.

While he steered the _Crafted Hand_ down towards Mos Eisley spaceport, Anakin knew he had made the right decision to come there.   

Stepping out of docking bay eighty-eight and into the bustling streets of Mos Eisley, Anakin found himself once again having to adjust to the dry, humid air that the twin suns gave the desolate rock he was on.

He was dressed similar to the other beings walking around him, trying his best to look like he belonged there.

Humans and aliens alike bumped into him or pushed past him.  The stench coming off some of them was enough to make Anakin wish he did not have such a heightened sense of smell.  

He blocked out most of the meaningless chatter and conversations going on around him.  They were mainly about the best place in the spaceport to get a good drink from or who was looking to hire a smuggler to do some highly illegal activities.  Even though he was blocking all that nonsense out, he was still able to tell that among the crowded streets and shops that someone was following him.  That someone had been following him since he had left the docking bay.

Anakin casually placed his hand on the blaster at his side, just to reassure himself that it was still there.  He reached out with his senses, finding the being approaching him was getting closer, and judging by the anxious emotions he was reading from it, it was getting ready to make its move.

He made the decision to turn down an empty street he was coming to.  It was probably not the brightest decision he had ever made, but he had no intention of letting whoever or whatever was behind him continue to follow him.

He made a right into the deserted street, checking behind himself to see if he was still being followed.  At that moment no one was behind him.  When he faced forward again, he found a razor sharp vibroblade being held at his throat by a rough-looking human.

"Just give me your wallet and you won't get hurt," his attacker said to him in a threatening voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Anakin saw the creature that had been following him, a female Rodian, turn onto the street.  Four other beings – two humans, a fury Talz, and an Aqualish – jumped down from the low roofed buildings, forming a tight circle around him.

Despite the dangerous situation he had gotten himself into, Anakin smiled.  This was going to be fun. 


	2. Looking For Trouble

CHAPTER TWO:  LOOKING FOR TROUBLE    

Staring his attacker straight in the eye, Anakin said, "you don't want my credits,"

"I don't want your credits," the man said slowly.

"You are going to let me walk away without any trouble,"

The dust-covered man slowly moved his vibroblade away from Anakin's neck. "I'm going to let you –" 

"Hey, what kind of trick is this kid trying to pull?"  Shouted the human on Anakin's left.

The scruffy man shook his head, trying to clear it from the thoughts Anakin was sending his way.  The disruption had been enough to allow him to break free from the mind trick.

Still a little dazed, he hesitated in holding up his vibroblade.  Anakin did not wait for him to remember what he had been doing only moments before.  He stuck out his fist and hit him in the face, causing the man to stumble backwards holding his nose.

Anakin drew his blaster and fired at the Rodian who had been following him.  He left her with a smoking hole in the side before she could draw her own weapon.

The odds were still against him, but he had no intention of letting them get his credits _or_ the best of him.

The remaining ambushers formed an enclosing circle around him.  The Aqualish lunged at him, but Anakin ducked to the side and did a quick swipe with his leg, knocking the creature's feet out from under him.  While he was busy doing that, the Talz had gotten behind him and grabbed his arms, making him drop his blaster.  He fought hard to break free, but its hold was too tight.  The two remaining humans laughed at his struggles.  They took out their own vibroblades and stalked towards him.

"No, this one's mine," said the man Anakin had hit in the face.  His nose was all swollen and he was bleeding profusely from it.  "I'll teach you to mess with me, kid," he snarled and lashed out with his fist against Anakin's kidney.

He would have doubled over in pain if the Talz had not held him upright.  Laughing at Anakin's discomfort, he hit him again, this time right in his ribcage.

The dirty man pulled out his vibroblade, the bright sunlight reflecting off of it.  "Now, I'm going to repay you for what you did to my nose," he said in a dangerous voice.

Out of nowhere, a blaster bolt burned into the hand holding the vibroblade.  Crying out, he instantly dropped his weapon and looked down at the burnt circle of flesh in his palm.

"I think it's time you and your friends found someone else to harass," the newcomer said, training his blaster on the thugs, "unless you want to try me,"

Just to prove his point he fired another shot, this one landing between the feet of the man he had shot at originally.  The sand boiled and sizzled there, but Anakin's attacker made no move to back down.  

The newcomer did not seem phased by this act of stubbornness, he simply said, "then I guess we'll have to do this the hard way," he pulled out a second blaster and took out the two humans still holding vibroblades, while Anakin finally managed to shake off the Talz that was holding him.  He elbowed it in the gut and then punched it in one of its many eyes before it could recover.  Partially blinded, the Talz never saw the person creeping up behind him and send a thundering blow to its head that rendered it unconscious.  The man with the burnt hand, seeing he was clearly outnumbered, ran off into the crowded streets.

Breathing hard, Anakin bent over to pick up his fallen blaster.  He glared up at the person who had just helped to save his life.  "What did you do that for?  I could have handled it,"

"You're welcome," said Zekk, putting his blasters back in their holsters.

"I did have everything under control," Anakin insisted.

"And what exactly did you have under control?"  Zekk said.  "The Talz who was holding your arms from behind, or the guy who was going to use his vibroblade to give you a new face?"

Anakin shot him a look but said nothing more.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Zekk said, looking at the mess of bodies on the ground, "that guy might be going to get some more of his buddies,"

Without protest, Anakin followed Zekk away from the battle scene of blaster marks and fallen bodies, and back into the open streets.

Anakin dubiously eyed the plate of food in front of him.  Zekk had assured him when he had ordered it for him that it was compatible with human physiology.  It looked like meat but he was not too sure what the green and red things were surrounding it.  He wasn't really that hungry anyways.

"You shouldn't have played with those guys like that," Zekk said, from the table they sat it in a dimly lit tapcafé.  "People around here don't have a problem with killing anybody who gets in their way,"

"I wasn't 'playing' with them,"

"Sure you weren't," Zekk said in a disbelieving voice, "you were just firing your blaster and waving your fists at them.  That was what got you into that mess," in a low voice, to make sure no one else except Anakin would hear him, he said, "why didn't you just use the force?  You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble,"

Anakin pushed around the food on the plate in front of him.  "I didn't feel like using it,"

Zekk gave him a strange look but did not comment further.  It was not his place to tell Anakin he had endangered his life by taking a chance like that – he was sure Anakin knew that anyways, he was a bright kid.  Besides, he had cut back on using the force himself in recent months.

"She's okay," said Anakin when Zekk remained quiet.

"Who?"  Said Zekk, between a mouthful of food.

"Jaina,"

Zekk stopped eating.  His appetite having all of the sudden disappeared.

"You really hurt her, you know that?"  Anakin said, sticking up for his older sister.

"I know I did," Zekk said in a regretful tone, "but I had to leave before I hurt her anymore,"

"That doesn't make any sense,"

Zekk raised an eyebrow.  "She never told you why I left?"

Anakin shook his head.  "I don't think she told anyone.  Except maybe Ganner,"

Zekk sat up straight in his chair.  "Ganner?"

"Yeah, they've become pretty good friends over the past month or so," Anakin said, "you know who he is don't you?"

Zekk nodded.  Everyone knew who Ganner Rhysode was, but he could not understand why Jaina was hanging around him.  She was smarter then that.   She had to know what kind of womanizer Rhysode was.  

"What brings you to Tatooine?" Zekk said, changing the subject.  "Most people don't come here if they have a choice,"

"You're here,"

"Point taken," Zekk said with a small chuckle, "but I came here because I needed to work out some stuff.  What's your excuse?"

"I just needed to get away," was all Anakin said.

"From what?"

Anakin looked down at the table.  "From Tahiri's death,"

Anakin spoke in such a low voice that Zekk was hoping he had heard him wrong, but the look on Anakin's face told him he had indeed heard correctly.

All Zekk could think of to say was, "I'm sorry,"

Anakin just kept his gaze fixated on the table's surface.

It had not sounded nearly as comforting as sympathetic as Zekk had wanted it to.  Then again, he was not quite sure why people say 'I'm sorry' when someone died.  It never makes the other person feel any better.  It had never made him feel any better when his parents had died in one of the earthquakes on Ennth.

"What happened?"  Zekk said gently.

Anakin looked up at him, his eyes full of hate, and said, "the Vong,"

Zekk did not know why that surprised him.  There was a war going on against those merciless aliens.  It was only a matter of time before someone you knew got killed.  He still did not completely understand Anakin's coming to Tatooine, but if you wanted to get away from everyone who knew you, no one would ever think to look for you on Tatooine, the giant desert ball. 

He was trying to think of some comforting words to say to Anakin that would not come out sounding completely lame, when a Rodian thundered in, waving its arms and shouting in its native language to all the patrons in the dim tapcafé.

"What's he saying?"  Anakin did not understand rodian, but he could feel fear pouring off of the creature.

Slightly rattled, Zekk jumped up from his seat, saying, "we need to get out of here right now,"

Anakin looked around him at all the other customers springing from their tables and heading for the door without even bothering to finish their meals.  

He followed closely behind Zekk, and the two pushed their way through the hoards of beings trying to exit the tapcafé.  Fear and anxiety were coming off of them in waves, and when Anakin bumped into them he to cut down his force sensitivity because the sensations were so strong.  Something terrible was about to happen, he was sure of that.

When they broke free of the crowd, Zekk broke into a sprint, with Anakin right behind him.

"You still never told me what he said," Anakin shouted to him as they ran.

Not slowing down in the slightest, Zekk said, "there's two Yuuzhan Vong cruisers in the space above us," he informed him, "and if we don't get out of here fast, we may never leave,"

Let me know what you think of my story so far. 

I'll try to get the next couple of chapters up soon!


	3. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Open Fla...

CHAPTER THREE:  OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE OPEN FLAME

          The _Lightning Rod_ was closer then Anakin's ship, so they quickly scrambled aboard her.  The landing ramp was not even halfway closed when Zekk blasted out of the docking bay and shot up towards space.

          They could already see dozens of ships similar to their own, streaking across the sky destined for space as well.  Some were flying too fast, and others not navigating carefully at all, resulting in three or four collusions and explosions of debris that the _Lightning Rod_ flew by.

          "Come on, come on," Zekk muttered, trying to coax more speed out of his battered old ship.

          The _Rod_ was not the fastest ship around, but it managed to find enough velocity that they were able to break through Tatooine's atmosphere in under two minutes.

          When they reached space, the two Jedi gasped when they saw the unmistakable alien craft, which happened to be a lot closer to their position then they had expected.

          Two massive Yuuzhan Vong warships were streaking towards Tatooine at such a rapid pace that those that had been hasty in plotting a course off planet were being caught in the living ship's dovin basals.  Anakin spotted one of the warships attempting to cut off their escape path.

          "You better get us outta here real fast, Zekk,"

          "I'm doing the best I can," Zekk told him.  He maneuvered them away from Tatooine and into open space, but it would not be open space for much longer.  The second Vong cruiser had almost blocked their path, and the path many other ships were heading for.

          They were not sending any coralskippers out, so this had to be just a quick run through the Outer Rim Territories to pick up some more slaves – and Zekk had no desire to become that.

          There was no way in Hapes the nav computer would have a programmed jump ready before they got caught in the gravity well of the enormous cruiser, and by then it would be too late.  They only had one choice.

          "Punch a set of random coordinates into the nav computer.  We're jumping out of here now," Zekk said in a grim voice, continuing to do his best to avoid the warship.

          Anakin stared at him.  "You mean jump blind?"

          "Yes, otherwise we'll never get of here except as slaves,"

          Anakin steadied his hand over the nav computer.  If he guessed right, they would be safely away from the Vong, but if his coordinates were just off by the smallest fraction – then it would not really matter because they would be dead anyways.

          The cruiser was beginning to fill the view screen in front of them.  Their escape window was slowly disappearing.

          "Anakin, do it now!"

          Closing his eyes, he punched in the first set of numbers he saw in his head.  Then he pulled down on the throttle in front of him.

          Instead of the Yuuzhan Vong warship filling the forward view screen, the star lines of space stretched around them and they entered the safe confinements of hyperspace.

          Zekk heaved a sigh of relief.  "That's two slaves the Vong won't be getting,"

          "Let's just hope my coordinates aren't off," Anakin reminded him, "or our whole escape will have been for nothing,"

          "How long until we come out?"

          Anakin checked the timer.  "About ten minutes.  I just programmed a short jump,"

          He only wanted to make sure they got far off from the Yuuzhan Vong, nothing more.  The longer they stayed in the blind jump, the greater the chance was they would run through an asteroid or even a black hole.  Then their escape would be over real fast.

          "Well, wherever we come out," Zekk said, trying to sound unconcerned, "it's got to be more friendly then the warm reception we just got,"

          "You know, since we've got some time to kill," Anakin began, turning to face him, "why don't you tell me why you left my sister and the academy,"

          "It's complicated," Zekk said, growing serious.  "Besides, you wouldn't understand,"

          "Try me,"

          He took a deep breath and let it out.  "To make a long story short, I felt like I was falling to the dark side again when we were on Dundas.  I used my hate and anger to save Jaina from Karsay, and then I killed him with those same feelings," he explained.  "I told Jaina I needed to leave and try to fix what I was becoming all over again before it got any worse.  She wanted to help me, but this was something that I had to do on my own.  She couldn't understand that.  We got into an fight, and then I left,"

          "And you didn't think I would understand that?  I use to dream every night when I was kid that I would turn into my grandfather, Darth Vader," 

          "So, you understand why I had to go?"

          "Sort of," Anakin said with a shrug, "but that doesn't mean you had to cut Jaina and everyone else out of your life,"

          "I did what I had to do.  Think about it this way," Zekk said to him, "if there was one person in your life you really cared about…that you loved, but all you ever did was hurt them, then isn't the right thing to do, if you really do love them, is to let them go?  Let them move on with their life because their better off without you?"

          Anakin had never thought about that before, but judging by the way he spoke, Zekk had spent a great deal of time thinking about it.  It did make a certain amount of sense.  If you kept hurting someone, you cut that person out of your life.  It would hurt them for a while, but eventually, they would get over it and move on.  It sounded easy enough, but Anakin knew it would be anything but easy to do.

          Zekk noticed the way Anakin was letting what he had said sink in.  "Now, do you understand?"

          "Yeah," Anakin replied, just as the light on the nav computer started flashing, "I think I do,"

          Zekk pulled down on the lever in front of him.  "Now we'll see how good those coordinates of yours are,"   

          The instant the _Rod_ was back in normal space, the sensors started screaming at them.

          "Now what?"  Zekk moaned.  He did not even need to read the sensors to figure out what was going on.  The giant, living ship in front of them was all the explanation he needed.  "Out of an ion storm, and into a supernova," he muttered to himself, and put the ship in full reverse – but the engines did not respond.  His fingers raced over the controls, trying anything to break them free, but nothing worked.  He could not believe what was happening.  How could they have jumped from one Yuuzhan Vong ambush right into another?

          The strange thing was, the ship holding onto them looked different from all the other Yuuzhan Vong ships he had encountered.  This one was nearly half the size of a Yuuzhan Vong warship, and the yorrik coral on its hull looked different somehow.  Zekk figured it had to be one of the newer models, which meant it was probably even more deadly.

"The engines aren't responding," he informed Anakin, "the sensors say it's some kind of tractor beam holding us,"

          "A gravity well?"

          "No," Zekk said, looking down at the readings in front of him.  "It's different.  They're not pulling us towards them.  They're pulling us towards _that_," Zekk pointed to the green and brown maze of a world that was coming into view.

          "I bet it's crawling with Vong down there," Anakin said.  "I think we need to take our chances out here, and try and shoot our way out of this tractor beam."  He flicked the switch that would turn on the _Lightning Rod's_ laser canon, but nothing happened.  He tried again, with the same result.  "Weapons are offline,"

          The lights in the cockpit flickered once, and then died.  "So is everything else," Zekk said, checking the instruments in front of him.  "We've got about ten minutes of air left.  Enough to last us 'til we reach that planet they're taking us to, if they don't decide take any detours along the way,"

          Anakin reached into the inside pocket of his vest and removed a shiny, metallic cylinder from it.  "They're in for a big surprise if they think they're going to get two Jedi without a fight,"

          The living ship continued pulling them closer to the unknown planet. 

          The strange craft cut the tractor beam and dropped the _Lightning Rod_ onto the ground with a bone-shaking jolt.  They tried the engines one last time, but the Vong cruiser must have placed some kind of a lock on the ship's systems.  The cruiser that had dragged them there was now taking off for space again.

          With no power anywhere in the ship, Anakin and Zekk made their way to the boarding ramp.  It would have to be opened manually, but once they got out, they could find cover somewhere or fight the Vong out in the open, instead of being sitting ducks in the powerless ship.

          While Zekk checked the power packs on both his blasters, Anakin said, "don't you have your lightsaber?"

          "I left it at the academy," he explained.

          Anakin frowned.  Blasters had never done any real damage to the Vong before.  Now, not only would they be outnumbered but they would also be outgunned at the same time.  Anakin was going to have to do his best to protect both himself and Zekk with what they had. 

          They had barely made it to the main area of the ship where the boarding ramp was, when they heard the sound of metal plating being chewed through.  Some kind of creature was chewing its way through the landing ramp, in an effort to gain entrance to the ship.

          "They sure didn't waste any time calling their friends and letting them know we're here," Zekk noted.

          Anakin ignited his violet saber and Zekk aimed both his blasters at the section of his ship that was quickly being sawed through.  They could see the dozens of black, jagged edges making their way through the hull plating.  The only way they could tell a living creature was doing it, was by the little puddles of saliva that would fall from the sharp teeth and land on the deck plates.

          Waiting anxiously, the two of them stood a half-meter away from it, hoping to take out the careless Yuuzhan Vong who would be standing outside the door, ready to fight, the minute the ramp was no more.

          It took the Vong only moments to slice through the hull as if it were nothing more than sullustan jam.  A thundering _CLUNK_ rumbled throughout the ship as the access hatch dropped uselessly to the deck plates.

          As they had hoped, Yuuzhan Vong crowded around the open space, looking for their new captives.

          Zekk did not hesitate to shoot once there was no longer anything separating them from the bloodthirsty aliens outside.  He fired shot after shot at the warriors.  A few times he got lucky, and his blaster fire actually did some damage.  That was only because these Vong warriors did not seem to be as heavily covered in armor as most of them usually were.  He managed to make most of them at least stagger backwards, and some even dropped to the ground unconscious, but there seemed to be an endless supply of warriors.  They just kept on coming.  Soon, there were too many Vong for Zekk to hit them all.  It did not take them long to make their way into the ship, and that's when Anakin sprung into action.

          The first time the warriors got a look at Anakin's saber, they did the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a gasp.  They paused in their attack and their eyes widened in just the smallest fraction.     Anakin did not waste time wondering why.  He simply went into attack mode: slicing through limbs, burning holes through vital organs, and jumping out of the way when a type of amphistaff he had never seen before was thrusted at him.

          Before long, the aliens were filling the ship, making it hard for Anakin to move around.  It almost caused him to accidentally cut Zekk in half when one of the warriors threw Zekk into him.  They crashed hard to the deck plates, and before they could spring to their feet again, they found a strange-looking amphistaff being aimed at each of their faces.

          Anakin thought about bringing his lightsaber up to cut through the staff, but nixed the idea when he realized he probably would not be able to do it before the second amphistaff sliced through Zekk.

          "You will come with us," the one with its weapon aimed at Anakin ordered in basic.

          And for the first time, Anakin got a good look at them.  They had similar type of muscular build and green, scaly skin like all the other Vong he had encountered, but they were missing the tattoos and disfiguring scars that would cover their faces.  Not one of them had any missing appendages or living attachments to indicate limbs lost in the glory of battle.  He had seen low rank Vong before but these aliens had not fought like them.  Their movements had been too strong and precise.  And their amphistaffs were unlike any type he had seen before.  Was this some type of elite force of warriors?

That was the only conclusion he could come up with that made sense, as he and Zekk were hauled to their feet.  This was some sort of elite warrior caste of Yuuzhan Vong that he had not encountered before.  But if they were such warriors, why had they not mutilated themselves like all the others had?  That was the only factor that did not add up.

A gooey, jelly substance was slapped onto their wrists, making it impossible to move them.  When he tried to move his hands it did not constrict tighter, but continued holding his bounded wrists together, showing no signs of weakening.  Anakin remembered Jacen telling him about a similar substance that had been placed on his and Tenal Ka's wrists when they had been captured on Rygelia.  He had no intention of letting these monsters do any experiments on him like they had tried to do with Tenal Ka.  He would die fighting before he let himself become their test subject.

Their captors led them through a swampy area, constantly scanning their surroundings, as if expecting someone to be following them.  Paranoid Vong was something Anakin had never seen before and did not understand.  There was no reason for them to be concerned.  If there was anyone out there, they would be more then a match for them.

"Have any ideas?" Zekk whispered as they marched along.

"I'm working on it," he whispered back.

"Silence!"  Boomed the voice of the Yuuzhan Vong walking in front of them.

They decided their best bet was to remain quiet.  They could come up with a plan when they were alone.

After five miles of walking through desolate, swampy lands, their surroundings cleared into what appeared to be a village setting.

Anakin and Zekk could not help but stare at what they were seeing.  An actual Yuuzhan Vong community on a planet was a sight that no one had ever seen before.  No one had even guessed such a thing existed.  The Vong would conquer planets, but they would never live on them.  They would be used to create their coralskippers, weapons and villips, but either then captured slaves and a certain of number of warriors, the rest would remain on the world ships.

Anakin did not even know what planet they were on, but he did know that the Vong were not using it as a ship growing facility or a slave colony.  They were living there.

The buildings were of a strange design, and they could only guess as to what material had been used to build them.  They didn't look to made of living material, but they couldn't be sure.  Who knew what Yuuzhan Vong used to make houses?  They were all different sizes, and not one looked to be the same as the next.  Each had its own original design to it, as if a different builder had constructed each home.

The strangest part of it all was the Vong they passed as they were led through the village.  Most were not even carrying weapons – none that Anakin could detect that is.  They were just walking around, going about their business.  Then there were the children.  He had only encountered warriors before, so it was hard for him to imagine them as once having been innocent children.  But here they were, playing and whispering amongst themselves as the newcomers passed them.

From what Anakin could tell, it looked like they were being guided to the largest building in the center of the village.  This one was completely different from all the others.  It was taller then all the other structures and appeared to be made out of some kind of moss.  Like all the other buildings, it had no door.  Instead, there was a rubbery substance covering the opening, which the lead warrior peeled aside and the two Jedi were shoved into it.

Inside, there had to have been over a hundred adult Yuuzhan Vong waiting for them, who looked just the same as the ones that had brought them there.  They parted to the sides as Zekk and Anakin were being led towards an elderly looking Vong in the center of them room.  Patches of long, graying hair stuck out in tufst from his head, and in the middle of his sloping forehead was an incredible looking tattoo, but once again there was no grotesque scaring.

The warriors behind them poked Zekk and Anakin none-too-gently in the back to make them get down on their knees in front of the elder Vong.

There was some commotion coming from the assembled warriors behind the elder Vong.  Anakin tried to see what it was, but he did not have the greatest vantage point from his spot on the ground.  The only thing he could tell was someone was trying to make their way to the front of the gathered warriors.  They parted to the side to let her through.

Anakin's eyes went wide.  He could not believe what he was seeing.  She wasn't really there.  He had to be hallucinating.  That was the only explanation.  He closed his eyes briefly, but when he opened them she was still there.

"Tahiri!" He cried and jumped to his feet.  The Vong whacked him hard on his shoulder with its amphistaff, and he sank back down to his knees.  But he was too distracted by the person in front of him who looked like his best friend to feel any real pain.

The look-alike Tahiri made her way to the elder Vong.  "These are my friends," she said to him.  "They can be trusted.  They're Jedi,"

Tahiri's words were enough to convince him to signal the other Vong to release the binders on Zekk and Anakin's wrists.  They had barely been ripped off, when Tahiri ran to Anakin and threw her arms around him.  Still in shock, he was barely able to bring up his arms and hug her back.  He didn't know how this could be happening, but he didn't care.  She was alive.  That was all that mattered.

More chapters soon to come!!


	4. History Lesson

CHAPTER FOUR:  HISTORY LESSON 

          He had no idea how it was even possible, but there he was, holding in his arms the person whom he thought had been dead for over two months now.  It was Tahiri.  He had no doubts about that.  Her head still came out to just above his chest and her golden hair still had that same sweet smell to it.  She just _felt_ right, that was the only way he could describe it.

          Tahiri broke the embrace first, her green eyes dancing with excitement when she looked at him.  "I can't believe you're here,"

          Anakin, still a little dumbfounded at seeing her alive, said, "I don't understand.  Tahiri _I_ saw you – you had that amphistaff sticking out of you.  You were – you…" he could not bring himself to say that one, painful word.

          "I _was_ dead," she confirmed, "but the Yuuzhan Vong brought me back.  Anakin, they have ways and can do things that we can't even begin to understand," she said in a frightened voice.

          He was having trouble letting it all sink in.  He did not know what to say.  He just stood there, staring at her like an idiot.

          "I'm glad to see you're alive," spoke up Zekk, now that Anakin and her seemed to be finished their reunion, at least for the moment.

          Tahiri smiled.  "So am I,"

          Coming back to reality, Anakin suddenly became aware of the fact that they were in a room full of Yuuzhan Vong.  Instinctively, he grabbed Tahiri's arm and pulled her behind him.  He started running through an escape plan in his head.  It would be virtually impossible to fight their way out of there but – 

          "Anakin, it's not what you think," Tahiri said.  "They saved my life,"

          Despite her words, he looked around the room full of Vong, expecting them to attack him like they had on the ship.  But each one of them remained where they were.  He was growing more confused by the second.  What in the galaxy was going on? 

          "What is this place?"  Anakin asked her.

          "I'll explain everything," Tahiri said, leading Anakin and Zekk out of the overcrowded building.

          "They're called the Tsirran," Tahiri began, as the trio made their way through the open village.  "They're what we would call cousins of the Yuuzhan Vong, but the two species are completely different.

          "The Tsirran were Yuuzhan Vong at one time," she continued, "but more than a millennia ago, a band of Yuuzhan Vong claimed to have seen a vision from their god, Zhaan, telling them that if they conquered their own galaxy, the gods would reward them with another galaxy full of planets and workers to help them harvest that galaxy as their own.

          "A lot of Yuuzhan Vong thought that if the gods said this then it had to be true and must be followed.  But there were others that did not believe the gods would demand the sacrifice of all other beings in their galaxy in order to show them a new one.  Some did not believe their even was another galaxy, and others thought that if they were true gods, then they should have the power to bring them to this new home without pointless slaughtering of life.

          "The Vong were divided over the vision.  Riots started, soon followed by war.  In the end, the Yuuzhan Vong that refused to obey the vision, left Uulik, which is the Yuuzhan Vong home world," she explained, "and started their own colony light years away.  They became the Tsirran, while the aliens that stayed on Uulik became the Yuuzhan Vong we know today.

          "After the Tsirran left Uulik, the Vong began the conquest of their galaxy.  They murdered billions of innocent creatures, but their own planet had become plagued with poverty and disease because of the ongoing wars.  Once they had destroyed or enslaved all their other enemies, they went after the Tsirran, the only ones who posed the Vong any kind of a real challenge.  The Yuuzhan Vong were very much different from the Vong that the Tsirran had known years before.  They had become extremely violent and merciless.  And in the end, that's how the Vong were able to win.  But thousands of Tsirran managed to escape on their ships.  They lived in space for more than a decade, until they finally stumbled upon this world, in _our_ galaxy.  They've lived here in secret ever since,"

          Looking around, Zekk said, "what planet is this?" 

          "My guess would be an uncharted planet near unknown space," Tahiri said.  "It was the first planet they stumbled upon when they entered this galaxy,"

          "That means the Yuuzhan Vong and the Tsirran entered this galaxy from two different vector points," Anakin said.  "The Vong breached this galaxy near Belkadan, which explains why they haven't discovered the Tsirran.  And if this planet really is near unknown space, that explains why no one else has found them."

          "They explained their whole history and coming to this galaxy to you?"  Said Zekk.

          She nodded.  "Soon after I was rescued they told me everything,"

          Anakin still needed a few more details to be cleared up.  "But if they've lived here since coming to our galaxy, how did they manage to find you?"

          "Some of the Tsirran have mutilated themselves to look like Yuuzhan Vong, in order to infiltrate war ships and bases on worlds that they have taken over.  When they brought me to one of the ships, there was two Tsirran stationed on the same section that I was in.  They got in touch with their other contacts onboard, and managed to get me off the ship when I was in the middle of being transferred to another ship," she explained to them.  "They made it look like my transport exploded after they had gotten me off it.  Then they brought me here, after the Vong had thought we had died in a faulty transport coralskipper,"

          Anakin was still suspicious.  "But why would they risk blowing their cover to save a human?  A _Jedi _human?  We all know how much would the Vong would love to have our heads served on a platter to them,"

          "They've been learning about the Jedi and all other beings since they came here.  They think we're the ones powerful enough to help them defeat the Vong before they finish destroying our galaxy like they did their own,"

          "So, this is about revenge for them, is that it?"  Zekk said.

          "In a way, yes," Tahiri slowly admitted, "but the Vong destroyed their home and most of the Tsirran with it,"

          Anakin wanted to say it sounded like she agreed with the idea of revenge, but he really did not want to start a fight with her so soon, so instead he said, "would they help us fight them?"

          "Yes," Tahiri responded immediately, "they've just been waiting for the right time to reveal themselves to the rest of the galaxy,"

          If these Tsirran had originally been Yuuzhan Vong, then they obviously knew how to fight – which they had shown Anakin and Zekk earlier, but could they trust them?  They were related to Yuuzhan Vong, and the Yuuzhan Vong had proven to be many things, not the least of them being untrustworthy.  Sure, they had saved Tahiri, but that could have just been part of a much larger plan to help them gain the trust of the Jedi.  Then they would make their move and turn on the unsuspecting Jedi Knights.

He definitely wasn't about to get his hopes up in believing the Tsirran could actually help them get rid of the Vong for good.  He knew that when something seemed too good to be true, it usually was.

          "Why did they attack us?"  Zekk asked.

          "When they saw your ship, they couldn't take the chance that you might be working for the Yuuzhan Vong or you would tell people that what you had seen.  They used a sort of tractor beam to hold your ship to make sure you wouldn't get away and then they brought you down here.  They were going to kill you, but when they saw Anakin's lightsaber, they decided to bring you to the high council.  All that remains of it is the one elder Vong you saw, Eus-ai Raak,"

          Zekk said, "well, I'm sure glad they had a change of heart and decided not to kill us,"

          Anakin looked over at Tahiri.  "They really rescued you, huh?"

          "After the Vong brought me back to life, they healed me to what I am now," she said.

          "Tahiri, if I had known – " 

          "I know," she interrupted him, reading his thoughts.

          Zekk was lost, but Tahiri and Anakin seemed to understand each other just fine speaking in partial sentences.  Maybe it was time he left them alone.  They didn't need him hanging around when they probably had a lot of catching up to do.

          "I think I'm gonna head back to the quarters you showed me," he said to them.  "It's been a long day and Anakin and I have lots of work to do on the _Rod_ tomorrow,"

          They said goodnight to Zekk, and then he started down the path in the opposite direction from them.

          "The Tsirran are sorry about what they did to his ship," Tahiri said as the two of them walked along, "but they didn't know you were friends,"

          "It's not like they made Zekk's ship look any worse.  The boarding ramp looked like it was going to fall off anyways,"

          Tahiri laughed, but it was more of a tense laugh, as if she were uncomfortable with being alone with him.

          "How did you and Zekk meet up?"  She said, her voice full of interest.  "Did he finally go back to the Academy?"

          "No, he hasn't gone back there yet," Anakin said.  "We just sorta ran into each other,"

          He sounded like he was holding something back, but Tahiri did not question him further.

          "So, uh, do you like it here?"  What was wrong with him?  Why was he having such a hard time making conversation with her?

          "I do," she replied, "I mean it's not home, but they've done everything they could to make me feel welcome,"

          "Do you trust them?"

          "Yes," she answered without hesitation.  She looked up at him.  "You don't, do you?"

          "They did save you from the Vong.  I guess that's good enough for me,"

          "I know what I told you is a lot to swallow.  It took me awhile to really believe any of it,"

He felt their hands brush against one another's as they walk.  

          "I really missed you," she said in a quiet voice and stopped walking.

          "I missed you too,"

          She reached for his hand but Anakin pulled it back at the last second.

          "What is it?"

          "It's nothing," he assured her, "I'm just tired.  Like Zekk said, it's been a long day.  I think I'm going try and get some sleep," it was a pretty lame excuse considering they hadn't seen each other in so long, but he just needed some time to himself for awhile.  Time to let everything sink in.  

          "That's okay," Tahiri said, not letting her disappoint show.  "We can talk tomorrow,"

          Anakin nodded his head in silent agreement.  "Goodnight, Tahiri," 

          "Goodnight, Anakin,"


	5. The Art of Selfishness

CHAPTER FIVE:  THE ART OF SELFISHNESS

          They had started work on the _Lightning Rod_ early the next morning, which had not left Anakin with much of a chance to say more than 'hi' and 'bye' to Tahiri.  He had been hoping to spend the morning with her, but the Tsirran were eager to help them fix Zekk's ship after what they had done to it the day before.

          He and Zekk, together with two Tsirran, who carried enormous brown sacks on their backs, made their way to where the ship had been left.  In the bright morning sunlight, the damage to the _Rod _looked to be a lot worse then it had originally.

          There were jagged edges that looked like teeth marks protruding from around the opening of where the boarding ramp should have been.  The ramp itself was lying several feet away from the ship – but was thankfully still in one piece.  The only question was, how were they going to wield it back to the ship and be certain it would not fall off when they were in the deadly vacuum of space?  The mysterious sacks the Tsirran had brought along with them solved that problem.

          It was a pinkish jelly, similar to what had been used as wrist binders on them, that would stick to any surface and prevent air from leaking in or our once the ramp was closed.

          Zekk had looked skeptical about attaching a type of living organism to his ship, and Anakin did not blame him.  But if the Tsirran's had wanted to kill them, they could have already done so many times over.

          The two Tsirran, who's names were Sui Vahung and Ulsi Essue, worked on the re-attaching the landing ramp, while Zekk and Anakin spent the better half of the morning clearing out the inside of the ship.  The Tsirran bodies had already been removed whey got there, but there was still blood on the deck plates, equipment laying strewn about that had been sliced to pieces, and blaster marks lining the inside of the hull.

          After that had been taken care of it was simply a matter of getting the ship's systems back online after the tractor beam on the Tsirran cruiser had short circuited them all.  Zekk had some spare power couplings on board, which would make the job go a lot easier.  They could probably have everything up and running within the next couple of days.

          Zekk was perfectly capable of taking care of the repairs on his own, which was why Anakin had told him he was taking a break.  He left him with Sui Vahung and Ulsi Essue, to go searching for Tahiri.

          He probably should have stayed and helped Zekk, but right now he had other things on his mind besides tinkering with a ship.

          It was mid-afternoon when he finally made it back to the village.  He did not know his way around there, but knew that if he walked around long enough he would find her.

          Along the way, he passed by several groups of Tsirran children, playing outside.  He found it strange seeing children that looked so much like Yuuzhan Vong.  He had to once again remind himself that these aliens were not Yuuzhan Vong.  They were distant relatives but that was as close as the similarities got.

          Anakin was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that these aliens were not the same bloodthirsty killers that their cousins were.  They treated each other as equals, and so far had shown no resentment towards humans or any other races.  They were not the fanatics for living things that the Vong were.  They had learned that both living and non-living items could be used together.  He had discovered that when he had gotten a look at one of their ships that morning.  They combined the technology of this galaxy with that of their own.  They also did not cover themselves in tattoos or mutilate their bodies to indicate higher rank.  He had noticed that some of the older ones had markings on their foreheads, and Tahiri had explained to him those were the ones who were leaders of their clan.  Probably the most distinct difference between the Tsirran and the Vong was that the Tsirran wanted to work with the Jedi, while the Vong wanted them dead or used for their own personal experiments.  It was hard to believe that two species who looked so much alike could be so completely different.

          If he had understood correctly what Tahiri had told him, all these aliens wanted was to help rid this galaxy of the Yuuzhan Vong, and in return be allowed to stay where they were.  They seemed honest enough – a quality he had never seen before in a Vong – but he still wasn't sure if they could be trusted.  Just like the Yuuzhan Vong, he could not read the Tsirran through the force, and that meant they could be hiding a great deal from Tahiri and the rest of them.

          He kept on through the village until he came across her glowing presence in the force.

          There was a group of adolescent Tsirran crowded around what appeared to be a fighting ring.  Anakin made his way towards it, pushing past the assembled crossed to see what was going on.  A look of astonishment crossed his features not when he got a look at who one of the fighters was, but when he saw how she was fighting.

          Tahiri was squared off against a Tsirran female, who was a good two feet taller and more muscular than her, but Tahiri was holding her own.  She was fighting as if they were equally matched opponents.

          Tahiri swung her practice amphistaff high – which was missing the poisonous outcropping of fangs at the end – and managed to sneak in a quick blow to the female's shoulder.  She grunted, and struck out with her own amphistaff, fully intending to decapitate the Jedi, but Tahiri just barely brought up her own weapon to block it in time.  They traded several more blows before backing off and circling each other warily.

          Anakin could see how heavily they were both perspiring.  They must have been going at for some time.

By the way they were exchanging violent blows, he could tell this was not some simple training exercise.  It looked more like a match to the death.  He really hoped Tahiri knew what she was doing.

          With a sudden burst of speed, Tahiri charged at her opponent, swinging her staff out in front of her.  Aggressively, she kept hitting the Tsirran's staff until she swatted it to the side, where it could no longer protect her.  Rearing her amphistaff back, she belted the female Tsirran in the shins, knocking her off her feet.  She landed hard on her back, and instead of finishing her off, Tahiri held out her hand to help her back to her feet.  They exchanged a few close words and then went their separate ways, handing off their amphistaffs to the two Tsirran that were getting ready to fight next.

          It was then Tahiri noticed Anakin for the first time standing nearby.  The shocked look on his face told her he had seen at least some of the battle exercise.

          "Don't look so surprised," Tahiri said, when she reached his side.

          "I'm not," he said quickly.  "I know you can handle a lightsaber and defend yourself, but I've never seen you fight quite so, uh – "   

          "Good?"  Tahiri supplied.

          "Aggressive was more the word I was thinking of,"

          She placed her hands on her hips.  "What's wrong with being a little aggressive?  And don't say it leads to the dark side,"

          "Fine, I won't," Anakin said, "It's just that I've never seen that side of you before," 

          "Well, you better get used to it," Tahiri told him, "I've changed a lot since we last saw each other,"

          "I can see that," he remarked.

          "What's that supposed to mean?"

          "Nothing," he said, hoping she wouldn't press the matter.  "Come on, let's go for a walk,"

          Tahiri did not object as Anakin led her down a path away from the other Tsirran.

They walked along in silence, passing by Tsirran who were going about their daily business.  A few acknowledged Tahiri and continued on their way.

"You were pretty quiet this morning," she spoke up, "even for you.  'Course I only saw you for all of ten minutes,"

"I had a lot of stuff on my mind,"

"Like what?"

Anakin stopped in his tracks.  He had been debating whether or not to even bring it up, but the question had been on his mind since last night and he could not ignore it any longer.  "Why didn't you ever try to contact me?"  He sounded more hurt then angry.

Tahiri had been waiting for this conversation to happen since he had arrived.  "I couldn't take the chance that the Vong would intercept the message and trace it back here," she said to him.  "If they knew the Tsirran had survived and came to this galaxy, they would come here and destroy what few of them are left,"

"So, you were just going to let me go on thinking you were dead?"

"No.  I would have found a way to get in touch with you,"

"When?"  Anakin said, his voice rising in volume.  "In a year or two?  When I finally would have gotten over your death,"

"I don't know," she said, looking away from him.

"Geez, Tahiri, you couldn't even reach out to me through the force, just once, to let me know you were okay?"

"You don't think I didn't want to?"  She said, her voice rising now as well.  "So many times I wanted to open myself up to you, but I couldn't.  Anakin, the Vong have ways to track us.  There are Jedi traitors who are selling us out to them,"

"Come on, Tahiri," Anakin said, not buying that for a second, "the Jedi may have different ways of handling the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, but none of us would sell each other out.  Who told you that there were traitors among us?  You're new friends?"

"They saved my life, Anakin.  They had plenty of opportunities to turn on me, but they didn't.  I told you, they have people who have infiltrated Vong warships.  They've heard stories of Jedi there, bargaining with them.  And I believe them,"

"Tahiri, open your eyes.  The Tsirran are related to the Vong.  That means they _are_ Vong, and that means they can't be trusted," he said, trying to make her see reason.

"I trust them," she said.

"And I guess you care more about them then you do your own family and friends," he accused.

"That's not true," she said shaking her head.

"How can it not be when you've been here for weeks, making a nice, new life for yourself, while everyone thinks your dead?  Do you have any idea what Kam and Tionne have been going through?  What I've been going through?"

"I'm sorry – "

Anakin wasn't listening to her apologies.  It was a little late for that.  "I went through hell when I thought I'd lost you.  Do you know what it's like to lose someone who's supposed to be your best friend?

"It was the only way.  If you had been in my situation you would have done the same thing,"

"I would never let you think I was dead," he said, coming dangerously close to losing his temper, "and if you think I would then you don't know me at all,"

"Anakin, I'm sorry I hurt you and that you feel like I betrayed you, but if I had to do the same thing all over again, I would,"

Anakin turned away from her.  He couldn't even stand the sight of her anymore.

"I don't know what else to say to make you understand why I did what I did," she said softly.

"Neither do I," he said, and began walking away from her.

"Anakin, wait!"  Tahiri called after him.

Anakin ignored her and continued his increasingly fast pace away from her.  He had nothing more to say to her.  She obviously didn't care about him as much as he thought she did.  That was fine with him, though.  He had spent the past couple of months trying to accept that she was gone, and just because she was back in his life now didn't mean any of that had to change.  He could do just fine without her.


	6. Getting the Facts Straight

CHAPTER SIX:  GETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHT

          Holding her breath, Tahiri approached the table – which was really a tree trunk sawed in half – that Zekk and Anakin were sitting at.  They were eating the assortment of meats that the Tsirran considered to be breakfast food.

          As soon as Anakin saw her coming, she heard him say to Zekk, "I'm going to get started on the repairs," then he left without saying a word to her.

          "He'll get over it," Zekk said, when Tahiri took a seat across from him.

          "I hope," she said, but did not sound too optimistic.

          Last night, when she had decided against going after Anakin, since he seemed to be really angry with her, she had bumped into Zekk.  She had looked upset and when he had asked her what was wrong she had ended up explaining her whole argument with Anakin to him.

          "He will," Zekk insisted, "just give him some time,"

          "Out of all the scenarios I played through in my head, not one of them had Anakin angry at me for being alive.  I guess I should have," she said, "because I would feel the same way,"

          "It's difficult for him," said Zekk.  "I think he went through a rough time when he thought he'd lost you. That was probably what led him to Tatooine in the first place.  He was trying to get over you,"

          Tahiri sat up straight.  "Tatooine?"

          "Didn't he tell you that's where we ran into each other?"   Zekk said, picking at his plate of food.

          "No, he didn't,"

          "He ran into some trouble with the locals, and I helped him out,"

          She could not believe he had gone back there.  Tatooine was not exactly his favourite place in the universe.  There could only be one reason why he would go there and it would not be so he could forget about her.

          "Are you okay?"  Tahiri had gone very quiet all of the sudden.

          She nodded quickly and got up from the bench.  "I've got some things I have to do.  I'll see you later, Zekk,"

          She left before he could ask her any more questions.

          "What are you doing here?"  Zekk said, leaning against the open door of the newly repaired boarding ramp.

          Anakin looked up from the mess of electrical conduits in his hands, and gave him a puzzled look.  "What does it look like I'm doing?  I'm trying to fix your ship,"

          "_I_ can finish the rest of these repairs on my own.  You need to talk to Tahiri,"

          Anakin pulled out a panel from the wall, and began connecting the cables in his hand to it.  "There's still a lot of work that needs to be done… and besides, I don't have anything to say to her,"

          Zekk sighed.  "You Solo's are all the same, you know that? You're all stubborn,"

          "I told you, there's a lot of work – " 

          "And I'm telling you to go find Tahiri and talk to her," Zekk cut him off.  "I get it, you're mad at her for making you think she was dead.  But it's time to get over it,"

          Anakin stopped his rewiring.  "You don't understand,"

          "I do understand," he told him.  "I understand that you've got a second chance but you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself to use it,"

          Anakin glared at him.  "You don't know what I went through,"

          "This isn't about you.  It's about Tahiri," Zekk was more then happy to enlighten him.  "Have you even thought about what she's been through?  I'm sure the Vong didn't bring her back to life so they could catch up on old times,"

          His silence gave Zekk his answer.

          "What Tahiri did wasn't selfish," Zekk went on.  "She put her own happiness aside to help protect the race that saved her life.  That's what being a Jedi is all about – protecting the innocent – if these Tsirran are what they appear to be.  You don't think that it didn't hurt her too, not being able to contact you or anyone else?  If you still think she's that selfish, then you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were,"

          And with those final words, Zekk left the ship, leaving Anakin alone to realize that Tahiri had not been the selfish one at all.  It had been him.

          It was late when Tahiri went to see who had decided to show up at her room in the middle of the night.  When she pulled back the rubbery covering that acted as a door, he was the last person she expected to see standing there.

          "I couldn't sleep," Anakin said to her.  "Can we talk?"

          She gestured with her hand for him to come inside.

          Anakin noticed she was still wearing the same clothes he had seen her in that morning.  He bet she was having about as much trouble sleeping as he was.

          Not quite sure what to say, he looked around the room that was basically the same as the one's he and Zekk were staying in.  It was small, with very few furnishings.  There was some kind of self-conforming mat lying on the floor, the Tsirran version of a bed.  Beside it, was a carved wooden nightstand, with a glow lamp on top that was using phosphorescent insects to illuminate the room.

          "I know you didn't come here in the middle of the night to admire my room," Tahiri said, breaking the silence.

          He might as well say what he had come here to say.  Staying silent was not going to fix anything.  "I'm sorry about yesterday," he apologized.  "I said a lot of stuff that I didn't mean,"

          "It's okay," she said to him, "You had every right to be mad at me,"

          Anakin disagreed.  "You didn't deserve the way I treated you,"

          "You were hurt,"

          "I was only thinking about myself.  I kept going on about what I went through, when what you had to go through had to be a million times worse,"

          "It was nothing I couldn't handle," she said in a brave voice.

          Anakin knew her better then that.  "Tahiri, you can talk to me," he said, taking her hands in his.

          "I'm fine Anakin.  Really,"

          He did not need the force to tell him she was lying.  "You were dead," he said gently, "and of all the beings in the galaxy it's the Vong that bring you back.  I know they didn't do it so you could go on living a nice, happy life," when she kept quiet, he said, "Tahiri – "

          "What do you want me to say?"  She snapped at him, struggling to keep her voice steady.  "Because I don't think you really want to know the truth," she let go of his hands and moved away, making sure to keep her back to him. 

          "Whatever you want to tell me, I'll listen to.  You can be honest with me,"

          "When I woke up and found out where I was, I had wished that I was still dead," in a barely audible whisper, she added, "sometimes I still do," 

          "Don't say that," 

          She whirled around to face him, hot tears streaming down her face.  "Why not?  It's the truth.  Isn't that what you wanted – for me to be honest with you?"  She said in a quivering voice.

          He hated seeing her in this much pain.  It made his heart ache to think about what she must be feeling inside.  He tried to reach her through the force, but she shut him out, putting up all kinds of mental barriers between them.

          "Tahiri, it's okay," Anakin said, "open yourself up to me.  I can help you,"

          She shook her head.  "I can't, not yet.  Please don't be mad at me for shutting you out,"

          "I'm not," he said, instinctively putting his arms around her trembling body and pulling her towards him.  He would give her as much time as she needed. 

He found himself stroking her hair, as she clung to him tightly.  Even when she stopped shaking he did not let go of her.  It was Tahiri who ended up breaking the embrace.

"I think I'm going try and get some sleep now," she said.

Anakin nodded his head and made a move to leave, but Tahiri grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Would you stay with me until I fall asleep?"

"Sure," he told her.  He had not really wanted to leave her alone anyways, after how vulnerable and fragile she had appeared only moments before.

Still holding his hand, she led him over to the mat on the floor.  There weren't any chairs around for him to sit on, so he ended up lying down with her on the mat.  It was not much different then when they had been in that cave on Tatooine, except now they were lying down instead of sitting up against a cold slab of rock.

Rather awkwardly, he put his arm around her, and she snuggled closer to him.  In what seemed like a matter of seconds, her soft, shallow breathing told him she was fast asleep.  Even though he had told her he would stick around until she fell asleep, he had no intention of going back to his own room and leaving her alone anytime soon.


	7. Moving Forward

CHAPTER SEVEN:  MOVING FORWARD 

Tahiri opened her eyes to find she was not alone in her room.  She could feel he was awake beside her, and had been that way for sometime now.

"You didn't leave," Tahiri said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Is that okay?"  Anakin said, sitting up on the mat.

"Yeah, I kinda liked having you here," she confessed, playing with a strand of her hair.  "I didn't have any nightmares," 

She looked like she wanted to say more but refrained from doing so.

"Hey," he said, gently lifting up her chin so she would have to look at him.  "What is it?"

"Last night you made me feel safe.  It's the first time I've felt that way in a long time,"

He smiled at her.  "I'm glad I was able to make you feel that way,"

Leaning back against the moss-covered wall, she said, "you know, we haven't really talked about what's going on with us,"

He stared at her blankly. "What do you mean?"

She gave him an incredulous stare.  How could he not know what she was talking about?  Was she going to have to spell it out to him?  "The stuff that happened while we on Tatooine,"

"Oh, you mean _this_," Anakin said, leaning forward and kissing her on the lips.

When he pulled back, she said in a slightly breathless voice, "I guess this means you, uh, want to pick up where we left off?"

Grinning, he said, "what do you think?"

Her answer was pulling him close to her and kissing him back.  Then she shoved him playfully when the kiss finally ended.  "You really had me going there when you pretended not to know what I was talking about,"

"Who said I was pretending?"

She rolled her eyes at him.  "I can see you've developed a wonderful sense of humour while I've been gone.  I'll have to fix that," she said and started tickling him.

Anakin laughed uncontrollably and grabbed her hands to stop her.  "Two can play at this game,"

Tahiri tried to free her hands, but Anakin was stronger than her.  She fought harder and ended up knocking Anakin off balance and fell right on top of him.  She had gotten what she wanted: her hands were free, but now she found herself in quite a compromising position.  

 Anakin reached up and pushed back a lock of hair out of her face, letting his hand linger there.  He felt more than a little awkward with Tahiri lying on top of him, but at the same time he was glad she had made no move to get off him.  He liked being this close to her.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.  They just laid there, staring at each other, until Tahiri, her face turning a bright crimson colour, said, "we better go," and then she got off of him before the situation could get too awkward.  "We should find Eus-ai Raak, and talk to him about setting up a meeting with Master Skywalker at a secret location,"

"Zekk's probably looking for me anyways," Anakin said, getting up as well.

"How much longer do you think it will take you to fix the _Lightning Rod_?"

"Not long.  It could be ready to go sometime later today," he saw her face fall in just the slightest at the mention of leaving.  "That is, if you're ready to go," he added.

"Of course I am," she assured him.  "It's time to get back to the real world.  And the sooner we can work out some sort of alliance with the Tsirran, the better,"

          Anakin had just about finished his inspection of the _Lightning_ _Rod's_ outer hull.  He should have been done more then twenty minutes ago, but he was dragging out the examination process because he was waiting for Tahiri to return.

Tahiri had managed to arrange a meeting with Eus-ai Raak right away.  She and Anakin had gone alone to meet with him, while Zekk finished up the last of the repairs on his ship.  They wanted to get back to the Academy as soon as possible so they could fill Master Skywalker in on the latest development in their war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

          Anakin had felt weird and more than a little anxious to be sitting less than five feet from the alien and yet not having to draw his lightsaber.  If everything ended up working out and this was not some elaborate hoax set up by the Tsirran, he was going to have to get use to spending time with them in close quarters.

          Even though he did not completely trust them, he had to appear as through he did.  It would be up to his Uncle to decided whether the Tsirran were sincere in their willingness to help the Jedi win the war.  Anakin's job had been to act like the Jedi Knight he had been trained to be.  He and Tahiri were the first ones to open up relations between the Tsirran species and the Jedi.  If their offer of hope did turn out to be genuine, it would be in the galaxy's best interests that he not screw up the first talks between the two 'allies'.

          Eus-ai Raak had provided Anakin with immediate and direct answers to all of his questions.  Without the force, he had had to rely heavily on his other senses to make sure the Elder had been telling the truth and not hiding anything back.  He had tried his best to keep it from turning into an interrogation, but Eus-ai Raak knew what he was doing.  However, he had assured Anakin he had not minded his thoroughness.  He said he knew Anakin was only looking out for his kind and that was a commendable trait.

          Eus-ai Raak had skipped the story about how his race had come to this galaxy, since Tahiri had already explained it to him.  Instead, he went on to emphasize the fact that the Jedi and Tsirran would have to work together in order to stop the Yuuzhan Vong before they did the same to this galaxy as they had their own.  When Anakin had asked point blank if this was about revenge for them, Eus-ai Raak had not hesitated in saying yes.  But the elder was also quick to add that they would follow whatever orders the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker gave them.  They respected Luke, and their fascination with the Jedi Master had led them to read every bit of information they could get their scaly hands on.  They knew all about Luke's adventures with Anakin's parents during the Rebellion and the early days of the New Republic.  They were also familiar with all his accomplishments once he had established the Jedi training facility on Yavin Four.

          That was a relief to know that the Tsirran would not start running around wild, killing Vong.  Anakin, though, was not sure if his Uncle would want to cooperate with a species whose main motivation to help them was revenge.  But they were running out of options.  If they did not accept the Tsirran's help, whose ships and weapons were an equal match for the Vong's own cruisers and weaponry, they might never defeat them.  

His Uncle rarely talked openly about the possibility of losing, but Anakin knew that if the Vong continued on their present course of destruction and domination, the galaxy would be theirs in a little more than a standard year.

          Anakin had wondered if maybe they should bring Master Skywalker to the Tsirran hideout, but Eus-ai Raak had said it would be too risky bringing him there.  He was concerned about the Yuuzhan Vong discovering their hiding spot before they were ready.  That was why he had asked Anakin if there was a system or planet somewhere that no one would suspect a meeting between the Jedi Master and the Elder.

          There were not a whole lot of relatively unknown systems or planets that would be safe enough for a meeting, especially when they did not have an exact estimate of how much space the Yuuzhan Vong had overthrown or were secretly infiltrating.  Then Anakin had been struck by an idea, and he could not believe he had not thought of it from the start.  Anoth.  It was the planet he and his siblings had spent nearly the first two years of their life on.  It was definitely out of the way and it was uncharted.  Most beings did not even know of its existence, and even fewer knew how to get there.  Luke was one of the few, and so was Anakin.  He wasn't supposed to know, but he had 'stumbled' upon it when he had been bored one day at the Academy and hacked into some of his Uncle's private file.  He had a gift for memorizing numbers without even having to practice remembering them, and now his Uncle was going to find out what he had done, when he explained how he had been able to give the coordinates to the Tsirran.  He might even be making a huge mistake by giving up the location of Anoth to a species that had yet to prove their trustworthiness, but it was worth the risk if they could rid the galaxy of the Vong once and for all.  

          The meeting had ended with them deciding on the plan that a Tsirran ship with Eus-ai Raak aboard, would show up at Anoth in about a standard week's time.  They would then wait around for a few days, and if Luke still did not show by then, they would assume that he had rejected their offer of help, and they would find their own way to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. 

          Anakin had been unable to make any promises, but he was almost positive his Uncle would come to Anoth and they would work something out.

          He finished with his outer sweep of the hull, satisfied that neither he nor Zekk had missed any cracks or punctures in it during their original repairs.  He knew when he had done his first inspection that there was nothing wrong, but it didn't hurt to be extra careful, especially with the Tsirran technology attached to the ship.  He didn't want any surprises happening once they were in the air.  

          He was going to give up on waiting for Tahiri and head inside, when he felt her familiar bright glow – which was somewhat dimmer then usual he noticed – approaching him.  A small pack looked to be made out of the same jelly that had been used to fix the ship was slung over her shoulders.

          "Ready to go?"

          She nodded eagerly.  "And for once I'm traveling light," she said, patting the pack on her shoulders.  Giving Anakin a curious look, she said,  "were you out here waiting for me?"

          "The hull needed checking," he said.

          "You were doing that when I left,"

          "Uh huh," she said, not believing him for a second.  Anakin had always been a terrible liar.

          "We better get going," he said.  "It's a long flight back to Yavin Four,"

          "I'm sure we'll find a way to pass the time," as soon as she had spoken the words she clamped her mouth shut, blushing furiously.

          "Tahiri, it's okay," Anakin said, taking her hand to show her it was all right, even though his cheeks were reddening as well.

          Still embarrassed, she said, "I guess I should probably think about what I'm going to say before I actually say it.  Starting right now," 

          "Maybe that would be a good idea," Anakin agreed, and for once Tahiri did not argue with him.

          As he led her into the ship, Zekk appeared from around grinning from ear to ear when he saw them.  Having had enough embarrassment for one day, Tahiri let go of Anakin's hand and went to throw her bag in one of the storage lockers.

          "I see you took my advice," Zekk said, walking over and slapping the switch that would seal up the newly fixed boarding ramp.

          "I'll be in the cockpit," Anakin said, ignoring his comment.

          Still grinning, Zekk followed after him.  He had a feeling this was going to be a most interesting trip.


	8. Reunion

CHAPTER EIGHT:  REUNION 

          Jaina Solo ran hard through the thick massassi tree filled jungle.  Not because she needed the workout or because she was running from some horrible danger, but simply because she was enjoying how difficult it was for the person running with her to keep up.  She was trying to teach him a lesson after he had not so bluntly said he could wipe the jungle floor with her any day.

          "How's it going back there?"  Jaina yelled over her shoulder.

          "Just fine," Ganner wheezed.

          Jaina grinned.  Apparently, Ganner was not in the top-notch shape he claimed to be in.

          "Hey, Jaina," Ganner called to her, "maybe we should take a short break.  You know, so we don't get dehydrated," he added.

          He sounded like he was ready to collapse and Jaina did not want to see that happen.  She had no desire to carry his sweaty body back to the Academy.  So, even though she could keep going, she pushed her way through the dense foliage until she came to the clearing where the lake was.

          Ganner was barely able to drag his tired body over to the water.  He crouched down at the edge of the lake and began splashing water onto his face.

          "Can you go on?  Or should we head back?"  She wanted to hear him admit she was in better shape then him.

          "Of course I can keep going," he replied, beginning to get his breath back.  "I just need to cool down first,"

          Jaina raised an eyebrow and grinned at him mischievously.  "Cool down, eh?"

          Before he could figure out what she had meant by that, a cluster of water molecules were lifted into the air and dropped on top of him, soaking him right through.  He jumped to his feet the instant the freezing water came into contact with his skin.  He looked down at his drenched clothes, which were clinging to his skin and dripping water onto the ground, making little puddles by his feet.  Not to mention his boots, which were filled with water and made little squishing sounds every time he moved his feet.  He had wanted to cool down – but not like that. 

The sound of laughter filled his ears as he squeezed the excess water from his shirt.  A few months ago he would have accused her or doing that just so she could see him with a wet tee shirt on.  Her reaction to that comment would have amused him to no end, but their relationship had moved past his annoying her for his own personal amusement – at least most of the time.

          "I guess I asked for that," Ganner said to Jaina, who had her laughter under control now, "but I think it's only fair that I return the favour,"

          Her laughter ceased the second she felt her body being lifted into the air and catapulted into the middle of the lake.  Sputtering, Jaina came to the surface, pushing her long, wet hair out of her eyes.  When she looked over at Ganner, she saw him at the edge of the water, bent over laughing.

          "All right," Jaina grumbled, as she began swimming back to shore, "we're even now,"

          Ganner looked quite satisfied with himself for using her own trick against her.

          "Would you give me a hand?"  Jaina asked innocently when she reached shallower water.

          Without thinking, Ganner stepped into the water and held out his hand.  The instant Jaina seized his hand he realized his mistake, but it was too late.

          Using all her strength – and a little help from the force – she pulled Ganner into the water beside her.   That wiped the smirk off his face. 

          Sitting down in the water, which came up to just above his waist, he said, "I can't believe you did that, Jaina.  That's got to be the oldest trick in the book,"

          "And you fell for it," she said smugly.

          "Whatever happened to 'we're even'?"

          "I guess I changed my mind,"

          "That's too bad," Ganner said, his tone full of regret as he brought his hands up from under the water and started splashing her with it.

          Jaina brought up her hands in a futile attempt to block the water and jumped up.  Using her feet, she kicked water at him until he had no choice but to get to his own feet unless he wanted to drown.  She cupped her hands in the water, mercilessly splashing it at him.

          "That's not fair," Ganner complained, "you're still one up on me,"

          "What are you going to do about it?"  She challenged.

          "This," he grabbed her waist and was ready to throw her back into the water when he caught sight of someone standing by the edge of the lake.

          "Am I interrupting something?"  

          Jaina turned her head to see Jacen, who was not even trying to hide the amused grin on his face.  She knew what he must have thinking, seeing them standing there in the lake, soaking wet, with Ganner's hands wrapped around her waist.

          "N-no," Jaina stammered, "we were just – you know, uh –"

          "Cooling off," Ganner finished for her, removing his hands from her body, "from our run,"

          She hoped Jacen could not see the bright pink her cheeks were turning.  Unfortunately, Ganner could since he was standing right in front of her.

          "Well, if you two are finished you're little water fight," Jacen said, his grin broadening even more when he saw the look of embarrassment on his twin sister's face, "you might want to come to the landing pad,"

          Jaina asked, "Why?"

          "Because Anakin's back,"

          "He is?"  Jaina said, sounding both surprised and relieved.  When he had taken off from Courscant days ago, she had expected him to be gone for quite a while.  He had a lot of issues he had to work out concerning Tahiri's death. It was a good sign then if he had decided to come back to the Academy so soon, wasn't it?

          Sloshing her way back to shore, with Ganner following, she said, "how did he sound?"

          Jacen shrugged.  "I dunno.  But he was acting weird?"

          "Weird?"  She really hoped he had not gone and something extremely un-Anakin like and stupid.

          "He wanted me to bring Kam and Tionne to the landing pad, and to make sure everyone else was there,"

          "He wants everyone there?  That is pretty weird," she agreed.  Their younger brother was not the kind of person who liked big crowds, and she was almost sure a quick trip to wherever it was he had gone would not change that.

          "Well, whatever's going on, we'll find out when we see him," Jacen said, breaking Jaina away from her thoughts.

          She and Jacen had long ago stopped trying to figure out their younger brother.  Maybe if they understood him better, they would know why he wanted all their friends, plus Kam, Tionne and everyone else to meet him when for weeks he had wanted nothing to do with anyone.

          At least the humid air would help her and Ganner's clothes become somewhat drier by the time they reached the landing pad.

          The landing area was filled with trainees and Jedi Knights by the time she, Jacen and Ganner got there.  A ship was just touching down as they arrived.  She could see her Uncle and Tenal Ka standing near the edge of the landing ramp.  They must have been one of the first ones there.

          Jaina frowned deeply as she instantly recognized the make a design of the craft landing.  She would know that beat up freighter anywhere.  She shot her twin a glare for conveniently having forgotten to mention that the _Lightning Rod_ was the ship Anakin was on.

          Jacen held up his hands in a defensive gesture.  "I didn't know.  Honest,"

          She let it go at that.  It was not as if an advanced warning would have made much of a difference anyways.    

          Ganner lightly touched her arm.  "What's wrong?"

          "Nothing's wrong," she said, "that hunk of junk is Zekk's ship,"

          She watched his calm expression turn itself into a scowl, but he said nothing.

          "What's Anakin doing with Zekk?"  Jacen said, somewhat confused.

          Tenal Ka had finally managed to make her way over to her friends.  She nodded to them in greeting and turned to watch the ship like everyone else.

          Jaina saw the landing ramp descending.  "I think we're about to find out,"

          That was when they noticed the strange, pinkish goo attached to the ramp.  Her mind immediately raced to the conclusion that they had been attacked by Yuuzhan Vong but had managed to escape.  She hoped Anakin wasn't hurt.

          Thankfully, though, when she saw Anakin descend down the ramp he looked unharmed – but he was smiling!  She had not seen him smile since before _it_ had happened.  She did not understand why he looked so happy until she saw a second person emerge from the ship.  

          Jaina felt her jaw drop in shock, along with everyone else present, when they got a look at the person who was standing beside Anakin.  Kam and Tionne were the first to come out of the shocked state, running towards Tahiri and throwing their arms around her.  Kam Solusar's usual stony and complacent demeanor was nowhere to be found as he hugged his thought-dead adopted daughter.  Tears of joy and disbelief filled Kam and Tionne's eyes.  The one word they kept repeating over and over was _how_.

          Jaina herself found she was still too stunned to speak, and so was everyone else it appeared.  Even Tenal Ka, who was never phased by anything, was staring wide eyed at the _Rod's_ lamp, gripping Jacen's hand tightly.

          As soon as she saw her Uncle make his way to Tahiri, Jaina shook herself out of her stunned state and made her way to the _Lightning Rod_.

          Everyone else that had come to investigate, were now pushing their way towards the docked ship.  Word traveled fast because by the time Jaina had made her way to her brother, anyone who had not been outside initially had found their way to the landing field.  Tahiri was surrounded by Jedi who were hugging her and crying.

          Anakin grinned when he saw his sister.

          "Anakin, how?"  Was all Jaina could manage to say.

          "It's a really long and complicated story that you're going to have trouble believing,"

          No more trouble then she was already having.  "What happened?"

          "I think I better let Tahiri explain it.  It's even too strange for me to understand," Anakin admitted.

          They watched as Tahiri was being led back to the praxeum by Luke Skywalker, Kam, Tionne, and the hoards of Jedi that had come outside.  Tahiri could barely be seen, surrounded by the swarms of different species who were questioning her, wanting to know what had happened.

          "It was by accident, Jaina, but I found her," Anakin said, his ice blue eyes sparkling with joy.

          She put her arms around her brother and gave him a hug.  He sounded completely different then the last time she had spoken with him.  He had been so angry and depressed, but now, she could see and _feel_ how alive he was again.  When she pulled back, Anakin looked down at the dark patches on his shirt and then back up at his sister.

          "It's a long story," she said, momentarily forgetting her clothes were still wet, and now so were Anakin's, but he did not seem to care.

          She heard movement coming from inside the ship, and then she saw him, standing at the top of the ramp, looking down at her.  His hair was really short.  A look she had never seen on him before, but he was still the same old Zekk.  The same guy that had broken her heart more times then she cared to remember, and the same person she would have been perfectly fine never seeing again.  But there he was, staring at her as if he had a million things he wanted to say to her, but could not find the words to say them.  Jaina never gave him the chance to speak.  Averting his gaze, she said to her brother, "I'll meet you inside,"

          She turned down the ramp and headed after the crowd taking Tahiri back to the Academy.


	9. Unwelcome Visitor

CHAPTER NINE:  UNWELCOME VISITOR 

          After spending over two hours in the Grand Audience Chamber listening to Tahiri relay her tale about being brought back to life by the Yuuzhan Vong, and then being rescued by a race that looked nearly identical but acted completely different, were the last things Jaina had expected the resurrected Jedi Knight to say.  Then there was the part about these aliens, the Tsirran, wanting to help them fight their Vong relatives.  Jaina found that harder to swallow then Tahiri's being brought back to life.  But Anakin had been in close contact with these creatures as well, and had explained the unique differences between the Vong and the Tsirran.  Everything from how they did not mutilate their bodies to how they lived in a peaceful village setting.  They sounded sincere enough in their offer to help with the war effort, but he still did not know if he trusted them – even after spending time with them.

          Jaina understood his skepticism.  The Tsirran were distant relatives of the Vong, so it was hard to believe that they had Vong blood in them, yet did not act like cold-blooded murderers.  Many of the Jedi Knights also shared her brother's uncertainty.  She could tell by the looks on their faces on the reactions coming off of them through the force.  There were others, though, who were quick to accept Tahiri assessment of the Tsirran and their offer of help.  But ultimately, the decision of whether to ally with these aliens would be up to Luke Skywalker.  No matter what he decided there would be those that disagreed with him – and that worried Jaina.  If they got divided on the Tsirran issue, there was no telling how bad things could get.   

          No matter what their opinion was, all the students and even the fully trained Knights, including Luke Skywalker, had hung on to Anakin and Tahiri's every last word.  They wanted to know everything there was to know about this new race.  Anakin, who had not spent nearly as much time with them as Tahiri, did more listening then talking, while Tahiri launched into detailed explanations of everything.

Of course, the one question that had to have been playing on everyone's minds, but no one was brave enough to ask, was: what was death like?  Or maybe no one asked because they did not think Tahiri would want to talk about it.

          Jaina had to admit, she was extremely curious herself, but such an ordeal as being raised from the dead had to be an extraordinary _and_ private thing that you wouldn't discuss with just anyone.  If Tahiri wanted to discuss it with them, she would.

          She had answered their continuous questions as best as she could, until she had asked to speak with Master Skywalker alone.  They had left for Luke's office, and everyone had filed out of the Grand Audience Chamber now that the excitement was over – for the moment at least.

          She wound the last corridor that would take her to her room, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was standing outside her door waiting for her.  She thought about turning around and coming back when he was gone, but she had a feeling he was not leaving until he talked to her.

          Zekk looked nervous as she approached him, so nervous in fact that she hoped he would change his mind and go away.  No such luck. 

          "Jaina," he said when they were face to face.

          "Zekk," she greeted him coldly.  "Back so soon?  I hadn't even noticed you were gone,"

          He sighed.  "Do we really have to do this?"

          "Do what?"

          "Fight," he said.  "That's not what I came here for.  I needed to see you,"

          "If it's to tell me you're leaving again, I kinda figured that one out on my own,"

          "That's not it," 

          "Then you're staying?"

          He ran a hand through his short hair.  "I dunno yet,"

          "Whether or not you decide to stay I don't really care.  I meant what I said, Zekk,"

          "What did you want me to do, Jaina?"  He said, growing irritated.  "Stay here and risk hurting you and everyone else?"

          "And did running away make things any better?"  Jaina said, letting her own anger show.  "Did you find what you were looking for?"

          "No, I didn't," he admitted in a low voice.  "I don't know if what I'm looking for is even out there,"

          "Maybe five months ago I would have cared or felt sorry for you," Jaina said, opening the door to her room, "but I don't now,"

          "Jaina, I'm sorry, but I can't change the past.  I can't change what I am,"

          "Did I ever ask you to?"  She shot at him.

          Zekk looked away from the harsh glare she was sending his way.  "I didn't come here to hurt you,"

          "No, you did a good enough job of that while you were gone," she said, and went to walk into her room.

          "What's going on between you and Ganner?"  He blurted out.

          Standing in the doorway, she turned back to face him.  "Ganner and I are friends.  Not that it's any of your business," she said in an icy tone.

          It _was_ his business, and that's why he couldn't let it go at that.  "What are you doing with a guy like Rhysode, Jaina?  You're smarter then that,"

          Getting defensive, she said, "you don't know anything about Ganner,"

          "You're right.  I don't.  Maybe I should go talk to every girl at the Academy to find out about him,"

          "This conversation is over," Jaina stated, clenching her teeth to hold back her anger.

          Zekk's eyes widened in complete and utter shock.  "He kissed you,"

          "Get out of my head," she snapped.  "You had no right to do that, and don't you ever do it again," she warned in a dangerous voice.

          "I had no right?  Ganner had no business kissing you.  He's like what, a decade older then you?"

          "It's seven," she clarified for him.

          "Whatever.  Geez, I wonder why a full-grown man is hanging around a seventeen year-old girl?"

          Jaina had to use every ounce of self-control she possessed to keep from knocking Zekk from there to Courscant.  "You lost any right you had to have a say in my life when you left here," she said to him, letting the anger she was feeling seep into her voice.  "You might be back at the Academy, but you're not back in _my_ life.  I don't want you in my life.  We're over.  And that's not going to change no matter how long you decide to stick around for," and then she slammed the door in his face before he could say another word.

          Tahiri was exhausted when she came by Anakin's room to say goodnight to him.

          As strange as it was for her, she found herself tired from talking so much.  Talking had always been like breathing for her, but explaining everything that had happened to her in the past couple of months over and over again got exhausting after awhile.  She really could not blame them for their curiousity.  She was thought to be dead and then out of nowhere she shows up on Yavin Four – alive.  More then once she herself had been bewildered as to how the Vong had managed to accomplish it.  She didn't remember a whole lot about it.  It was mostly just a bunch of jumbled images that she saw in her head.  Even when she tried to remember she couldn't recall any specific details.  The only constant was the Yuuzhan Vong.  They were always in them, doing things to her – putting things _inside_ her body, but she could never see what.  The thought that there was something _alien_ crawling around inside of her was almost more then she could stand.  She had never actually felt anything but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there.  As long as it stayed inactive, she supposed she could live with it.  Not like she had much of a choice in the matter. It was almost certainly there as one of the things the Vong used to help bring her back.  Maybe it was the only thing keeping her alive.

          She had left out those details and others surrounding her resurrection when she had explained being brought back.  It would arouse too many questions – more than she was already having to deal with.  She feared that if she told them about what she could remember that they would be afraid of her.  That they would think she was under some kind of Yuuzhan Vong control, or worse yet, working for the Vong.  That was what had led her to tell them she couldn't remember anything about what had happened.  Her first memory was waking up in some sort of laboratory, but before anything could be done to her, the Tsirran posing as Yuuzhan Vong had gotten her out of there.

What had surprised her was the one question she had been expecting since her arrival never got asked – even though she knew they were all thinking it.  She knew they wanted to know what death was like and where she had gone.  But no one had provided a voice to the unspoken question, and she was not sure if it was because they thought it was too private a subject for her to discuss, or because they were scared.  Maybe they were too afraid to know what the after life was like, or if they knew the secrets surrounding death, the mysterious aurora that had surrounded it since the beginning of time would be gone.

          Whatever their reasons were, she had been relieved to not have to talk about it.  Where she had gone after she had died was an issue she had not talked about openly with anyone – not even with Anakin – and she did not think she ever would.  It would be too painful to talk about it.  Right now, it hurt just to think about it.  Too many of the people she cared about would be hurt if she told them the truth.  Some things were better left unsaid.

          Collecting her thoughts, she raised her hand and knocked on Anakin's door.  It did not take him more then a few seconds to answer it.  He must have been expecting her.

          He invited her into his room, saying, "I never thought I'd get the chance to speak to you again,"

          "I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to talk since this morning," she said, walking inside, "but I haven't been able to get away from everyone,"

          "It's okay.  Everybody here missed you, and now they're just happy you're back,"

          "I had no idea I had such a fan club," she remarked.

          "You were – I mean you _are_ important to a lot of people," Anakin corrected himself.  "Not only that, but your coming back to life has been one of the few good things that have happened since the war started.  And now because of what you told them about the Tsirran, it's giving everyone their hope back.  That maybe we really can beat the Vong,"

          "I just hope I'm not giving them false hope," she said glumly.

          "Even false hope is better then no hope at all.  At least it will get everybody back in the right frame of mind now that we have a chance of winning,"

          "I talked to Master Skywalker in private about meeting with the Tsirran at Anoth," she told him.

          Ever since Tahiri had told him that there were Jedi traitors out there, he had been starting to wonder if maybe she was right.  Initially, he had been certain the Tsirran had told her that lie just so that when she did go back to the Academy and told the other Jedi about it, they would become paranoid and suspicious of each other to the point that it would divide them.  The Jedi would be so engrossed at pointing fingers that they would pose no real threat to the Yuuzhan Vong.

          He had been so sure that the Tsirran were wrong, until he had actually allowed himself to believe in the possibility.  As soon as he had, he was no longer sure they were liars after all.

          It was common knowledge that a number of races had tried bargaining with the Vong in hopes of sparing their planets and the populations that lived there – the Syynnodes on Rygelia were the latest example of that.  The Syynnodes were letting the Vong keep their slaves there until they found a permanent place to dispatch them.  Though the majority of the deals made with the Vong, usually ended with the vicious aliens not keeping up their end of the bargain that had not deterred people from trying to make deals with them.

 Was it really so farfetched then that some Jedi were also cutting deals to save their own skin?  When people got scared, they did things they would never do under normal circumstances – and Jedi were people too.  That was the reason he, Tahiri, and Zekk had decided not to tell anyone about the meeting scheduled at Anoth.  If anyone was working for the Vong, they did not want to tip them off.  Just letting everyone know about the Tsirran was risky enough, but there would have been to many unexplained questions – namely the living jelly acting as a sealant on Zekk's ship to try and answer.  As long as no one knew the where the Tsirran were hiding, the aliens would be safe for the time being.  The Vong would not split up their forces and make themselves vulnerable unless they knew where to look.  They were too close to victory to risk doing something foolish like that.

          They had also kept quiet about the fact that the Tsirran had entered this galaxy at a different vector point from the Vong.  Anakin did not know if that piece of information would be significant or not, but it was best not to take any chances.

          "What did my Uncle have to say about meeting with the Tsirran?"

          "He seemed uncertain at first, but it didn't take him long to agree to go to Anoth.  I think he realized he doesn't have anything to lose by going,"

          "He doesn't want to be responsible for throwing away any chance, no matter how unbelievable it may seem, that might give us the edge for once,"

          Tahiri nodded her head in agreement.  "And when he goes, he's taking us with him – after the scouting team goes and checks out the place,"

          "Scouting team?"

          "A group of Jedi Master Skywalker has selected to go to Anoth before the Tsirran arrive to try and make it defendable in case the Vong find out about the meeting," she explained.

          "No matter how defendable they make the stronghold on Anoth, it won't last too long under a Yuuzhan Vong assault," Anakin pointed out.  "Who's he planning on sending, anyways?"

          Tahiri ticked off the names on her fingers.  "Well, there's your sister, Ganner Rhysode, Riley Walker –"

          Anakin scowled at hearing the last name Tahiri had said.  Riley was definitely not someone who should be going on a mission that was this vital.

          "What's wrong with Riley?"  Tahiri inquired seeing Anakin's sour expression.

          "We had a difference of opinion regarding how the Vong invasion should be handled a few weeks back,"

          It was a lot more then a 'difference of opinion', Tahiri was sure of it.  "What happened?"

          Anakin sighed.  He had clearly wanted to steer clear of this subject.  Taking his grief out on Riley had not been one of his finer moments.  "I hit him,"

          "You hit him because he had an opinion that was different then yours?"  That did not sound like Anakin at all.

          "No, I beat the living force out of him because of what he said," Anakin clarified.

          "Gods Anakin," she said, shaking her head, "I can't believe you did that,"

          "You sound like Uncle Luke,"

          "I'm sure he was pretty upset with you,"

          "He was.  He told me to go home and cool off for a few days,"

          "I still can't believe you beat him up,"

          "He thinks we should surrender to the Vong.  What kind of a Jedi does that make him?"  Anakin said, trying to defend his actions.

          "And so you hit him?"

          "No, not then," he said slowly.

          "When, then?"

          He dropped his gaze to the floor.  "After he told me I wasn't thinking straight because the Vong had murdered someone I cared about,"

          It had been grief that had made him do it.  She should have known.  Anakin had never let people's opinions get the better of him before.

          "It was stupid," he admitted, "and I shouldn't have done it.  I don't know what I was thinking," he shook his head.  "I wasn't thinking, that was the problem," before Tahiri could say anything, he quickly changed the subject, "who else is going?"

          "Zekk,"

          "Zekk?"  The list just kept getting better and better.  "We don't even know if he plans on sticking around long enough for that,"

          "Master Skywalker seems to think he will,"

          "Has he talked to him about it?"

          "No.  He's going to tell them all tomorrow," she said.

          "If Zekk's still here by then," Anakin mumbled.

          "He could have left hours ago, but he hasn't.  I think he wants to stay,"

          "I guess we'll find out in the morning,"

          When they both grew silent, Tahiri said, "anyways, I just came by to say goodnight,"

          "Goodnight," Anakin said to her.

          That _had_ been the real reason for her stopping by, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to leave.

          Anakin, sensing her reluctance to leave, said, "you could stay here if you want,"

          "No, I should go.  I don't think Kam and Tionne would be too happy if they learned I spent the night in here with you – newly resurrected or not,"

          She kissed him on the cheek and went to leave.

          "Tahiri," he called after her, "I'm here if you need me,"

          "I know," she said, and then left his room.

          She knew how badly Anakin wanted to help her, but even he couldn't help her with what she was going through.


	10. Plotting a Course and Sticking To It

CHAPTER TEN:  PLOTTING A COURSE AND STICKING TO IT

          Strolling into the hanger bay in the next morning, Anakin was checking to see if the _Lightning Rod_ was still there.  It was, but it did not look like it would be around for too much longer.  Neither did its captain. 

"Taking off again?"  Anakin said, noticing the duffle bag Zekk had strapped across his shoulder.

"Why wouldn't I?  I brought you and Tahiri back here.  I talked to Master Skywalker about the Tsirran.  What else is there left to do?"

"Leaving again isn't going to make things any better between you and Jaina,"

"This isn't about her,"

Anakin gave him a skeptical look.

          "It's not," Zekk said, trying to convince him.

          "You can't fix what's wrong between you two if you're half way across the galaxy,"

          "Jaina made it quite clear last night that there's nothing left to fix,"

          "I thought you said this wasn't about her,"

          Frustrated at having been caught in his lie, Zekk said, "I'm not doing anything except hurt her by being here,"

          "So, you're giving up after one conversation with her?  Did you really expect her to be happy to see you again after not hearing from you for months?"

          "Look, Anakin," Zekk said, losing his patience, "there's no reason for me to stick around.  Jaina doesn't want me here,"

          "Then don't stay because of her," Anakin said simply.  "Stay because of what's been going on in the galaxy.  Have you looked around lately, Zekk?  There's a war going on – a war that we're losing – and you've been off trying to hide from yourself and everyone else.  You're a Jedi, and in case you've forgotten you have a responsibility to the rest of the galaxy to act like one.  If you still decide to leave, that's your choice.  But you'll be turning your back on your own kind and the rest of the galaxy,"

          "Hey, Anakin – "

          But Anakin was through listening to him.  He marched out of the docking bay and nearly knocked Luke Skywalker over in the process.

          Luke watched his nephew go and then said to Zekk, "is Anakin right?  Are you leaving again?"  

          He wanted to say yes. That one more Jedi wasn't really going to make much of a difference – especially one that had come close to falling to the dark side a second time – but what Anakin had said about responsibility and duty had struck a chord in him.  And for the first time in months, he found himself at a different kind of crossroad.  Instead of deciding whether or not to let himself fall to the dark side, he was facing a completely different choice altogether.  He could run off and hide, and feel sorry for himself – like he had been doing for months now, or for one of the few times in his life he could follow the right path and do the right thing.

          He had wasted so much time trying to figure out what he was when he had known all along.  He was a Jedi, something he had worked so hard to become, and no matter how many times he messed up that would never change.  He had earned the title of Jedi Knight, and it had been quite a while since he had put that title to good use.  It was time he started again.

          "I'm not going anywhere," he said at last, and he meant it.

          Master Skywalker gave him a small, approving smile.  "I'm glad to hear that, Zekk, because I have something I need to ask you,"

          "Damnit!" Jaina muttered to herself in disgust.  She let go of her hydrospanner, which dropped with a _CLANK_ to the deckplates, and grabbed her stinging hand.  How could she have made such a stupid mistake?  In trying to realign the ship's power converter she had unintentionally crossed it with the cable from the weapon's systems instead of the power coupling.  That had ended up causing the power converter to overload because there was too much energy being directed into a single system, and it had nearly ended up electrocuting her and blowing up the ship if she had held the cables together for a second longer.

          Still gingerly holding her hand, Jaina inspected the damage her error had caused.  She had burned through quite a few vital cables.  She let out a loud sigh.  It would take her the rest of the day to get them fixed.

Maybe she could keep Tenal Ka out of there long enough so her friend would not see the accidental damage she had caused her new ship, the _Fearless Rancor_.

Tenal Ka's parents had given her the ship to replace the _Rock Dragon_, which had been destroyed on Rygelia.  Jaina had assured Tenal Ka that she could fix up the ship and make it even more powerful – and deadly – then the Rock Dragon ever was.  Tenal Ka had agreed to let Jaina perform all the modifications and upgrades she wanted as soon as she and Jacen came back from the trip they were going on.  Jaina had been extremely curious as to just what kind of a trip would be so important that her brother and Tenal Ka would take off in the middle of a war that _they_ were losing.  When Jacen had told her it was because their Uncle Luke had given them some leads as to where they might find something or someone to help cure Tenal Ka's disease, Jaina had understood their need to go away.

Jacen had been very vague about all the details, most likely because he did not know too much himself.  Jaina had offered to go with them, but Tenal Ka had adamantly refused Jaina's offer.  She had not even wanted Jacen to go with her, but she would not allow anyone else to help her chase around the galaxy for a cure that was probably not even out there.  She had said there was more important things at stake then her health.

When the _Fearless Rancor_ returned to Yavin Four more than a week later, Jaina knew the instant they stepped off the ship that they had been unsuccessful.  Then for almost a week after, the air between the two had been uncharacteristically tense.  Something had obviously happened while they were gone – and it must have been pretty bad because Jacen and Tenal Ka never fought – but Jaina had stayed out of it.  She had no desire to get in the middle of their problems.  Neither one of them had said a word to her about it, but eventually everything went back to normal – at least she hoped it was.

Using her good hand, she picked up her fallen hydrospanner. Then letting the Solo side of her take over she slammed the panel shut over the mess of burned circuits so hard it fell off and clanked against the deck plates loudly.

"Did anyone ever tell you anger leads to the dark side?"  Ganner said, stepping into her line of sight.

"It's kind've the motto in my family," Jaina said, tossing her hydrospanner into her toolbox.  She left the plate covering on the floor where it was.

"Maybe you shouldn't work when your mad," Ganner suggested.

"And maybe you should leave me alone when I am," Jaina snapped, directing the frustration she was feeling at him.

"Your wonderful mood wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that your Uncle's sending me, you, Riley and Zekk to Anoth, would it?"  Ganner said, not backing down.

Jaina wished she hadn't slammed that panel because then she could have had something to hit right then.  "No, it doesn't,"

"If you're going to lie, you could at least try to sound convincing,"

"It's no big deal," she said to him.  "Uncle Luke put me in charge of the mission and I'll do what needs to be done.  We'll get as much of Anoth's defense systems up and running as we can and then we'll wait for the Tsirran and my Uncle to arrive.  It's as simple as that."

"Jaina, nothing's ever that simple,"

"That's because there's always someone around to complicate things," she grumbled.

          "Are we still talking about the mission?"  Ganner said, a bit confused.

          "Yes,"

          "It doesn't bother you that Zekk's back?"

          "Does it bother you?"

          "Don't change the subject,"

          "I could care less about Zekk," she was more than happy to inform him.  "And no, I'm not going to have a problem with him being on this mission," she said before he could ask the question.  "Now, can we talk about something else?"  She decided then she was not going to tell him about the fight she had with Zekk last night, because he would only ask questions and then she would get more upset then she already was.

          "Sure," Ganner said, "how about the way your brother's been staring at us ever since he walked in on our little water fight yesterday,"

          "Jacen?  He's just going through one of his 'overprotective brother phases'.  He gets those every once in a while," she explained to him.

          "I see," Ganner said, nodding his head in understanding.

          Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "does he have a reason to be overprotective?" 

          "I dunno," Ganner said, moving closer to her, until their lips were almost touching.  "You tell me,"

          The next thing Jaina knew, she found herself standing in the middle of the ship letting Ganner kiss her.  It wasn't long before she had her arms wrapped around him and was kissing him back.  She had almost forgotten what kissing him was like – and how much she enjoyed it.  But their previous encounter had not been nearly as intense _or_ aspassionate as this one.

          When Ganner moved his lips away from hers and began kissing her neck, was what broke Jaina out of her trance and made her realize what was happening – what _she_ was letting happen.  She abruptly broke away from him.  But Ganner didn't let go of her, so the two were still in extremely close proximity. 

          "I should go pack," she mumbled lamely, trying not to look at him.  Before she lost her nerve to leave, she removed herself from Ganner's embrace and hurried out of there, not wanting to give him a chance to try and convince her to stay.

          "Luke, I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Leia Organa Solo said to her brother.

          "I don't see why it's such a big deal sending them there alone,"       Luke said to the image of Leia on the holoscreen in front of him.

          "Not them.  I'm talking about Zekk and Jaina.  I don't think they should be stuck together so soon.  And Ganner – " Leia broke off, shaking her head.

          Luke leaned forward.  "What about Ganner?"

          "I get mixed emotions from Jaina whenever she talks about him,"

          "Ganner's been good for her," Luke said to his sister.  "She let him in when she kept pushing everyone else away," Luke stopped himself from going into further details when he realized what Leia was getting at.  "You think there's something going on between them that goes beyond friendship?"

          Leia shrugged.  "I'm just her mother.  She doesn't tell me anything.  You see her more then I do, what do you think?"

          "They've become good friends, but that's all I know.  I'm just her Uncle after all," Luke said with a smile, "she doesn't tell me anything,"

          Leia rolled her eyes.  "Luke, I'm serious,"

          "I know you are, but they're Jedi and they have a mission to complete.  That means they'll be responsible and not let their emotions get the better of them or cloud their judgment,"

          "And if we keep telling ourselves that maybe it'll come true," she said.  "I understand their Jedi Knights, but they're also teenagers – at least Jaina and Zekk are – that's why I'm telling you it's not a good idea to send them wherever it is their going, alone,"

          "They won't be alone.  There's another Knight going,"

          "Boy, do I feel sorry for whoever you're sending with them," Leia remarked.  "I hope he's a good diplomat,"

          "They'll be fine," Luke tried to assure her.

          "You keep telling me that, but I'm not so sure,"

          "Just trust me.  When have I ever let you down before?"

          Leia frowned.  "What if they get into trouble?"  She should have said _when_ they get into trouble.

          "Then they'll have to work together as a team and use everything they've learned in their training to get through it,"

          Leia was not nearly as confident as her brother that the trip would go smoothly.  It had been a long time since either one of them had been teenagers, but the one thing she did remember was cooler heads did not prevail no matter how bad a situation got.

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	11. Dealing With Uncomfortable Situations

CHAPTER ELEVEN:  DEALING WITH UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS

          Late at night alone in his room at the praxeum, the dark-haired Knight made sure his door was locked before proceeding to open his closet.  He rummaged through his belongings he had shoved in there until he came across a scuff-marked bag.  Carefully, he removed the bag from the closet and put it down on the stone floor.  He reached inside and pulled out a medium-sized round ball.  The Yuuzhan Vong warrior that had given him the communications device had also shown him how to use the villip.  He never liked using the villip – it creeped him it – but he had learned to put his discomforts aside because it was the only way he could contact him.  He had never dared to ask them to use normal com channels.  That would only insult his Vong contact and probably cause him to terminate his relationship with him. 

          Reaching out with his mind, the Jedi tried to sense anyone who might be in the corridor outside.  Thankfully, the hall outside his room was empty.  He would not have to worry about anyone listening in on his conversation.

          He stroked the villip as he had done many times before, and watched it come to life.  The ball formed itself into a near-exact duplicate of the Yuuzhan Vong tactical advisor, Zuh Veqq.

          He made himself sit up straight, attempting to hide his nervousness.  If there was one thing the Yuuzhan Vong were intolerable about – besides machines – it was fear.  Though, why he should be feeling afraid the Jedi traitor was not sure.  He had good – no, excellent news to report to his contact.  After weeks of failing to report any significant information, he had feared his usefulness to the aliens was coming to an end, but now what he had to tell Zuh would no doubt put him back in the Vong's good graces.

          He promptly received a response to his communications attempt.

          "What pathetic information do you share with the Yuuzhan Vong now, betrayer of _Jeedai_?"  The voice of Zuh through the villip growled.

          The Jedi traitor clenched his teeth together, not allowing the Vong to see how his words had affected him, which was undoubtedly what he had intended in the first place.  "I have information that will please you," he said confidently.

          "It is I who will decide what information is useful," Zuh corrected him.  "Speak now, and then I will decide whether to allow this _liaison_ between us to continue,"

          He took a deep breath.  "The Jedi, Tahiri, who was believed to have been dead, showed up on Yavin Four alive," he began.  "She told us that she was rescued from one of your warships by a group of beings called the Tsirran,"

          He had never seen a surprised Vong before and even though the villip was only a representation of Zuh Veqq's face, he enjoyed watching its eyes nearly bulge out of the villip's sockets.

          "Why do you waste my time with lies?"  The villip hissed.  "You know nothing of the Tsirran, and the _Jeedai _Tahiri is dead,"

          "She was very much alive when she arrived on Yavin Four yesterday to tell us about the Tsirran.  I now know the Tsirran are the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a cousin.  They look like you, but they don't have your passion for war,"

          "Impossible," Zuuh spat.  "The one called Tahiri lies to you.  We destroyed the Tsirran more than one of your decades ago,"

          "Well, some of them managed to escape and found their way into this galaxy because Tahiri has been living with them for more than a month."

          "Where are the Tsirran hiding?"

          The Jedi shook his head.  "I don't know and I couldn't ask without making myself look suspicious.  But there's more," he was quick to add.  "The Tsirran want to meet with Luke Skywalker to discuss the terms of aiding the Jedi,"

          "They are betrayers of their own kind.  The _Jeedai_ will never trust them,"

          "They might.  Luke Skywalker has agreed to the meeting.  He's sending a team of Jedi ahead – which includes myself – to make the planet more defendable in case the Yuuzhan Vong show up,"

          "What is the name of this planet?"

          "Anoth.  It's on no known star charts, and only a handful of people know of its existence.  Even fewer know the actual coordinates.  I'm afraid that includes me," he said, lowering his head.

          "You must learn the coordinates of Anoth and send them to me," Veqq ordered him.  "A treaty between the Tsirran and _Jeedai_ must not be allowed to happen,"

          "I will not fail you, Zuh Veqq," the traitor assured him.  He had no idea though, how he was going to get the coordinates as of yet.

          The villip gave a curt nod.  "If you are successful, then perhaps I will reward you for your loyalty to the Yuuzhan Vong.  Perhaps even the unexpected resurfacing of the one called Tahiri will prove useful after all,"

          Before he could have a chance to comment further, Veqq terminated the communication and once again the villip became nothing more then a silent ball in his hands.

          For the first time since he had begun his liaison with Veqq, the conversation had not left him shaking when it was over.  He took that as a sign that the tactical advisor was finally starting to realize just how valuable an asset he was.

          Marching up the boarding ramp of the _Fearless Rancor_ with her traveling bag in hand, Jaina ran through the coordinates for Anoth in her head for the hundredth time.  She would not find them in any known Republic or Empire databanks, so it had been her job as pilot to get them from her Uncle Luke and memorize them.  As leader of the mission to Anoth, Luke had entrusted Jaina with the coordinates to it.  There had been no reason to tell anyone else since she would be doing all the flying.  Sure, they were all on the same side, but the fewer the people that knew where Anoth was the better.

          Heading for the _Rancor's_ newly refurbished lounge, she intended to drop off her bag there and then head up to the cockpit and prep the ship for take-off.  When she arrived at the lounge, she found she was not the only one who had decided to arrive early.  Zekk was shoving his own bag into a storage locker, but he stopped when he saw her.

She had not spoken to him since slamming the door in his face almost two nights ago.  She was tempted to turn around and walk away, but knew that she was going to have to learn to at least accept being in the same room with him or else this trip was going to be even longer and more uncomfortable then it already was for her.  Not that accepting his presence was going to make her feel any more comfortable around him, but she was mature enough to know they were going to have to act civilized in order for this mission to succeed.  That did not mean she had to pretend to like having him around, though.

          Without looking at Zekk, she walked over to the locker across from him and threw her own stuff inside it.  Hesitantly, she removed a metallic object from her bag and stood there grasping it in her hands for several moments before closing the door.  "Here," she said, practically throwing his lightsaber at him.  Then she stomped out of the lounge before he could say anything.

          _Good riddance_, she thought.  For months now, she had wanted to get rid of that thing.  She wanted nothing to do with him, and giving him back his saber was another step in that direction.  The _right_ direction in her opinion.

          Safe in the confinements of hyperspace – as long as they did not run into any Vong Interdiction fields – Jaina was going over the information about the Tsirran that Tahiri had given her.  It wasn't a lot, but Tahiri had been as specific as possible with the information she had given Anakin to put into her data pad.  She found it somewhat comforting to know that she would not be going into the meeting totally blind.  But that did not help her feel any less anxious about having those aliens wanting to align themselves with the Jedi.

          She had not intended to read up on the Tsirran until they had finished what they were going to Anoth for.  The trip to Anoth was a long one.  However, it gave her something to do to help pass the time and to think about everything that was going on in her life.

          She had managed to avoid being alone with Zekk since their encounter in the lounge earlier.  But she refused to admit to anyone that his return had affected her more then she had thought it would.  Since he had been back, she hadn't been able to go more then five minutes without thinking about him – and she hated it.  She wished he would just go away and this time never come back.  It would make things so much easier.  Then there was Ganner.  He was a completely different story altogether.  She had been perfectly at ease with being around him until he had gone and kissed her the day before.  Now, she felt awkward and unsure of what to say whenever she was around him.  She didn't know how he was feeling because she never hung around him long enough to find it.

          It annoyed her to no end that two out of the three people she had been stuck with for this mission she could not even hold a conversation with.  She could talk to Riley, but she barely knew the guy.  Either then the fact that he had been born on Chandrilla, his parents had brought him to the Academy when he was ten-years-old, and he seemed like a decent guy, though her younger brother despised him and had landed him in the medical ward a few weeks back, she knew nothing about him.

          She could tell Anakin had been a little more then angry when he had learned that Riley would be going to Anoth because of the difference of opinion they each held regarding the Vong.  That didn't automatically make the guy a bad Jedi.  He just was not sure if the galaxy was handling the Vong crisis the right way.  An opinion shared by many in the New Republic.

          She didn't like what he had said any more then Anakin had, but that didn't necessarily make him a traitor.  Master Skywalker had explained to their team what Tahiri had told him about their being traitors among them Jedi.  He also told them they were not to discuss with anyone that they were going to Anoth.  As far as everyone else knew, they were just going on another routine mission to investigate Yuuzhan Vong activity.  Their mission was anything but routine that was for sure.  

Jaina had learned long ago that the assignments of a Jedi Knight were rarely ordinary or routine.  You learned to expect the unexpected to happen.

          "How much longer 'til we reach Anoth?"  Ganner asked, strolling into the cockpit.

          "Hours still," she replied instantly, not letting it show that he had surprised her.  "Getting deck fever already?"

          "I just wanted to know, that's all," he said coolly.

          "Okay," Jaina said and went back to reading her data pad.

          "It's quiet up here," Ganner observed.

          "It's quiet all over the ship," she said without looking up.

          "Up here, there's no one to talk to, no one to bother you," he went on.

          She gave up on reading and looked at him.  "What are you getting at, Ganner?"

          "I'm just saying you can't keep avoiding everyone.  I mean, it's fine while we're on the ship, but we're all going to have to work together down on Anoth,"

          "I'm not avoiding you," 

          "I never said you were,"

          Her expression quickly turned into a frown.  He had tricked her into saying she was avoiding him.  He knew she was avoiding him, he just wanted to hear her admit it.

          "Stop it," she told him.

          Confused, he said, "stop what?  What did I do?"

          "You knew I was avoiding you.  You just wanted to hear me admit it," she accused, jumping out of her seat.

          "That's ridiculous,"

          "Is it?"

          "Yes.  Even more so then this stupid fight you're trying to start with me,"

          "You started it,"

          Ganner rolled his eyes.  "That's real mature, Jaina,"

          "If you don't like how I'm acting then leave,"

          "Don't worry, I am," he said, and began walking away.

          "And for your information," Jaina yelled after him, "I'm in here by myself because I have reading to catch up on,"

          Ganner did not bother to acknowledge her.  He just kept on walking.

          Jaina plopped back down into the pilot's chair and crossed her arms over her chest.  She hated how easily he could get her going.  He would twist things around to make it look like it was her fault they were fighting, when in fact it was really his.  He could be so aggravating.  She wondered to herself why she even bothered trying to talk to him.

I'll be posting the next chapter soon!!


	12. Aggressive Tendencies

CHAPTER TWELVE:  AGGRESSIVE TENDENCIES

          He just didn't understand why she had to go and start a fight with him practically every time he tried to have a normal, peaceful conversation with her.  Ganner would have thought that after months of breaking down the walls between them and forming something that resembled a friendship, he would understand Jaina Solo a lot better – but he didn't.  Were they even really friends after all?  Sure, they spent time together – quite a lot of time in fact – but to Ganner there seemed to be a piece missing from it all.  That both he and Jaina were holding something back, and until that something was out in the open things would never be right between them.  That was his theory anyways.

          He liked her – no, he was crazy about her.  He couldn't help it.  He had never intended to fall for her, it had just happened.

          Originally, when he had set out on his 'quest' to befriend her, he had thought about putting the moves on her now that she was available.  Not that availability had ever stopped him before.  He soon learned that getting involved with someone was not what she had needed.  She had needed someone to be her friend – and she had fought him on that one too.

          They had both agreed to never be anything more then friends, and for a while it had worked.  He had told her he did not want anything out of her besides friendship, but he would be lying if he said he felt the same way now.  Jaina had to know how he felt.  How could she not?

          They had been spending a great deal of time alone, just talking in recent weeks, and if that wasn't enough he had gone and kissed her when they were by themselves in the ship yesterday.  She had come up with the lame excuse that she had needed to pack and had bolted out of there before he had a chance to speak.

          He knew he was a lot older then her, but she would be turning eighteen soon and most of the time she acted a lot more mature then people he knew that were older then her.  Other times, like now for instance, she could be so – so childish.  It was obvious she was avoiding him because he had kissed her, and that fight back in the cockpit she had started was to keep them both from talking about what had – what _was_ happening between them.

          He found it exhausting thinking about why she always had to be so difficult.  Zekk's return was not making matters any better.  Jaina had been quick-tempered and snappy since his return.  That probably explained why she was being even more unreasonable then usual lately.

          He really hoped Zekk would not be hanging around for too much longer because he could not stand the sight of the guy – and the sooner the better.  Jaina had been a mess the last time he had left and he had no intentions of letting a repeat performance happen.

          He couldn't wait anymore.  He needed to get everything sorted out with Jaina now.  He would find her and even if she refused to talk to him or acknowledge what was going on, he would not leave her alone until everything between them was sorted out.

          He wasn't paying attention when he rounded a corner and ended up running straight into Zekk.

          "Watch where you're going," Ganner growled at him.

          "I was," Zekk snarled back.

          He hadn't planned on starting anything with Zekk on this trip, but Ganner found that he could not resist the temptation.  Besides, he was in the mood for one.  "I hope you don't plan on bailing when we reach Anoth, seeing that we only have one ship,"

          "You'd like that, wouldn't you," Zekk said, taking a dangerous step closer to him, "so you can go on playing whatever game it is you're playing with Jaina,"

          "I don't know what you think you know about – "

          "I know that you kissed her.  She told me," 

          It was not exactly a lie.  Though he was sure Jaina would see otherwise, since the only reason he knew was because he had barged in on her private thoughts.  But it was worth it just to see the look on Ganner's face.

          "Jealous?"  Ganner taunted.

          "Of you?  Someone who's hitting on a teenage girl nearly half his age, I don't think so,"

          "At least when you get to be my age you know that running away doesn't solve your problems.  It just makes 'em bigger,"

          "What do you know about my problems?"

          "Plenty,"

          Zekk fought to keep his expression neutral even though his mind was whirling.  What had Jaina told him exactly?  He could not believe she would tell this loser everything about his past, especially when a lot of it he had only confided in her about.

          "If you think you can just show up and come back into her life as if nothing's happened, you've got another thing coming," Ganner warned.

          "Like you're really perfect, Rhysode,"

          "I never said I was, but if you hurt her again –"

          "Will the both of you cut it out?"  Jaina said in a fed up voice several feet away from them.  "I could hear you arguing all the way at the other end of the ship,"

          "Tell Rhysode he should mind his own business,"

          "Make me,"

          "Enough," Jaina said, playing the part of the mediator and stepping in between the two of them before the situation could get out of hand.

          "Jaina?"  Riley's voice came over the ship's com system.  "We're due to come out of hyperspace,"

          "You take care of it," she told him.

          "Me?"  Riley's voice squeaked.

          "Yes, you.  I've got my hands full here," she said in an irritated voice.  "You know how to fly, don't you?"

          "Well, yes," 

"Good.  Now do it," when she heard the com click off, she glared at the two bickering Jedi's and said, "I'm in charge here.  So you two can either shut up and take a seat, or you can stay here while Riley and I take care of what we came to Anoth for,"

Zekk and Ganner held their ground for a moment longer, but then fixed each other with a glower and backed down.

Jaina shot them both one last warning look before heading back to the cockpit.  She could still feel their heated anger as she walked away but knew that neither one would start anything – at least not right away.  She had thought that dealing with Zekk on this trip would be hard enough, but having both him and Ganner at each other's throats the entire time was definitely not something she needed nor wanted to have to deal with.

Anoth was the same bleak place it had always been when Jaina had lived there more than fifteen years ago.  She had been two-years-old the last time she had visited the chunk of rock that had housed the stronghold where their mother's best friend, Winter, had taken care of her siblings for the first couple of years of their lives.  

Anoth was made up of three separate fragments that are held in formation by the weak gravity of space along with crackling bolts of static electricity.  The two largest fragments were incapable of supporting life, but the smallest chunk contained a breathable atmosphere.  Luke Skywalker, along with Admiral Ackbar chose this place to hide the Solo children because they reasoned that no one would ever think to look for a settlement there.  

They had set their ship down on the single landing pad, which had mostly eroded away over the years, and then the team made the short walk to the compound.

The durasteel doors were closed, kept in place by a locking mechanism that had been designed to stay active even if the building was ever abandoned.  Luke had given them the code needed to open it, so it was only a matter of seconds after Jaina punched in the correct sequence of numbers that the doors clanked open, allowing them to walk inside.

The air was stale, as if it had been recycled way too many times through the air filters, but the power generators still worked even after all those years.  That was the important thing.  Illuminated corridors gave them the light they needed to navigate their way to the main control room in the stronghold.

As they passed through the different areas of the base, Jaina saw signs of the damage caused by Ambassador Furgan and his Imperial agents more then a decade before.  They had tried to kidnap baby Anakin Solo, but Winter, along with the base's defense mechanisms had bought enough time for the New Republic team to arrive and rescue them.  Scorch marks and burnt out machinery were never repaired because the base had been abandoned soon after the attack.  With Anoth no longer a secret, her parents had decided that Anakin was no safer there then on Courscant and had brought him home with them to the Imperial Palace.  

They reached the control center with ease.  Looking around, Jaina saw the damage was not as bad as her Uncle had thought it would be.

When the Imperial agents broke into the stronghold, they had wanted to make sure no distress signal or any other defense systems came on line, but they had been sloppy.  They had not taken the time to figure out what system controlled what.  They had just started blasting away at different consoles.  Yes, some of the damage would be un-repairable, but within a week she figured she could have this place up and running like the formable stronghold it had once been.  She would not be able to do it on her own, unless she wanted it to take a month or more.  She was going to need Zekk's mechanical skills as well.

Before they got started on the control room, she wanted to check out the rest of the base to make sure there was no serious damage or anything unexpected lurking around.

"The four of us should split up," she said to the rest of them.  "We'll search the rest of the base and meet back here in one hour.  If you find anything, use your com link and we'll come find you,"

Within moments, each of them set out on their own to explore the rest of the stronghold.

After checking several empty rooms, Jaina could not shake the feeling that she was being followed.  She had not sensed any other life forms present when they had arrived, but that did not mean there weren't any.

As she kept walking, the feeling that she was being followed increased, and she was sure it wasn't her imagination.

Deciding to take care of her follower, she stepped around the corner, waiting for whatever was there to follow her.  She heard the footsteps getting closer…closer.  With a _snap-hiss_ of her lightsaber she turned the corner – and just barely restrained herself from turning Ganner into a smoking corpse.

"Jaina, it's only me," Ganner said, her saber illuminating the startled look on his face, which he quickly erased.

She shut off her saber.  With a scowl, she said, "what's wrong with you?  You scared me half to death,"

"I scared you?"  He said, remembering how only seconds before she had nearly ended his life with one stroke of her saber.  "You're the one who nearly sliced me in half.  Didn't you sense me behind you?"

"No," she mumbled, embarrassed at her mistake.  "I felt someone following me and I immediately thought there was someone else here,"

"That'll teach you not to jump to conclusions," he scolded.  "Or to first reach out with the force to figure our whether you're dealing with a friend or an enemy,"

She didn't like the way he scolding her as if she were nothing more then a little kid.  "Stop talking to me like I'm a child,"

"Maybe when you stop acting like one I will,"

She managed to keep a lid on her anger.  "Why were you following me?"  She said, trying to take the attention off of the near fatal accident she had almost caused.  "What part of splitting up didn't you understand?"

"None of it," he answered.  "I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to talk,"

Hooking her lightsaber back onto her belt, she said, "we're supposed to be doing our best to make this place defendable for a meeting that could be vital to the survival of the New Republic, and you want to waste time talking?"  She shook her head and began walking again.  As she had expected, Ganner started after her.

"We need to talk about what's going on between us," he said, increasing his speed to keep up with her.

"This isn't the time or the place," she said without slowing down.

Fed up, Ganner grabbed her arm and shoved her into the nearest room, closing the door behind them.  It looked to have been an office at one time with the desk and chairs and a few other furnishings.  That was good, because then he would not have to defend himself from too many objects being thrown in his direction.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"  Jaina exploded.

"Neither of us is leaving this room until we straighten out a few things," he said, blocking the door.

"You're insane,"

"You're entitled to your opinion, but if the only way I can get you to talk to me is to lock us in a room together, so be it,"

"What do you want from me?" Jaina said, starting to cool down.

"I want you to be honest with yourself about how you feel about me, instead of trying to cover it up by starting a fight like you always do,"

"You know how I feel," she said in a quiet voice.

"No I don't.  We kiss.  You avoid me.  And then we fight.  That doesn't tell me very much," when Jaina kept silent, he continued.  "I know we agreed never to be anything more then friends but this is happening whether you want to admit it or not.  I never meant to fall for you, but it still happened no matter how hard I tried to stop it.  You have no idea how hard its been for me to just be friends with you these past few months," he confessed, "and to not even know if you feel the same way because you keep sending me all these mixed signals.  I don't know what you want, but you have to tell me before things go any further,"

Ganner had said everything that he had wanted to say, and now the ball was in her court.  She didn't know why she was afraid to be honest with him.  Maybe it was because it had been so long since she had been happy – really happy – that it scared her.  

"When you kissed me that first time," she began slowly, "and then you told me it was an accident, that you hadn't meant to do it, I was hurt," she admitted.  "I couldn't figure out why but I tried to get over it.  We were friends, so it didn't matter.  Then, when I think everything's going to be okay, it wasn't.  I would see you flirting with other girls at the Academy and it would bother me.  I hated feeling jealous, but that wasn't the only feeling I had to worry about.  The closer we got, the harder it was for me to normal around you.  But I forced myself to get past if because I had made up my mind that we would only be friends,"

"Now what do you think?"  Ganner asked.

"I don't know,"

"That's not true," he said, "why can't you just admit you feel?"

"Because it will change everything,"

"Jaina, everything's already changed," he said to her, taking her hands in his.  "Just tell me what you want,"

She didn't know how to say the words, so she did the next best thing: she kissed him.  Ganner returned the kiss with equal passion and pulled her closer to him.  And this time Jaina did not pull away from him – did not even think about pulling away from him, until the com link in her pocket started beeping.

"Ignore it," Ganner murmured.

"I can't," she managed to get out between kisses.  Reluctantly, she ended the kiss that she had initiated. She took out her com link and spoke into it.  "What is it?"

It was Riley.  "You better come back to the control room, Jaina.  We've got trouble,"

She and Ganner exchanged worried glances.

"What kind of trouble?"

"A Vong cruiser just entered orbit around Anoth,"

"I'll be right there,"

Together, she and Ganner took of at break neck speed for the control room.  Each of them forgetting what had been going on only seconds before, now that their lives were in danger.


	13. A Traitor Amongst Us

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:  A TRAITOR AMONGST US 

          When Jaina and Ganner reached the control center, they both saw Zekk and Riley hunched over a computer console, grim expressions evident on both of their faces.  Jaina rushed over to join them.

          The base's long-range sensors were picking up a foreign spaceship, and as much as she wanted to believe it was a normal alien ship, she knew it wasn't.  The blips on the screen had become all too familiar to her in the past couple of years.

          "I don't understand," she said to no one in particular.  "How could they have found Anoth when they have no idea it exists,"

          Ganner spoke up from behind her.  "Someone must have contacted the Vong and given them the coordinates,"

          Zekk could hear the accusation in his words – and they were being directed sorely at him.  "You think I led them here?  You're delusional Rhysode,"

          "It wouldn't be the first time you've sold out your friends to the enemy,"

          "Placing blame isn't going to fix anything," said Jaina, feeling Zekk's temper reaching the breaking point at Ganner's remark.  The last thing they needed right now was to start fighting amongst themselves.

          Riley asked, "what are we going to do?"

          They could head for their ship and try and make a run for it, but their chances of outrunning a large, heavily armed cruiser with dozens of coralskippers, were slim to none.  What they needed to do was buy themselves some time to think of how to escape without getting blown into space dust.  Taking charge, Jaina started assigning duties.  "Riley, you and Ganner try to get out a distress signal to Master Skywalker, warning him not to come near Anoth.  Zekk and I are going to try and get this place's defense systems up and running before it's too late,"

          She saw the disapproving look on Ganner's face, but she never gave him the chance to protest.  "You have your orders," then she took off down the corridor with Zekk.

          "Where are we going?"  Zekk said as they ran.

          "The security features of the stronghold were disabled years ago when the Imperials landed here," she began.  "We can coordinate the defense system from up in the control room but first we have to get them working again," she explained.  "There's a room beneath the control center that has the equipment we'll need to fix it.  We get that working and we'll have a fighting chance when the Vong decide to come down for a visit,"

          They reached the room Jaina was talking about and hurried inside it.  Several large computer consoles lined the room.  They wasted no time in getting to work on them.

          "When the Imperials landed here, they never bothered to destroy the generator.  They thought blasting machinery up in the control room would be enough,"

          "I guess it's a good thing for us Imperials were never too smart," Zekk said, working on the console beside her.

          "I'm rerouting power to the defense systems," she told him.

          "Jaina," Zekk began in a serious voice, "you have to believe me when I tell you I'm not working with Yuuzhan Vong.  I know I've done a lot of horrible things, but selling out Jedi to the Vong isn't one of them,"

          She did believe him.  Contrary to Ganner's beliefs, she knew he was not the one that had betrayed them, even though she had nothing but his word to go on that he had not led the Yuuzhan Vong to Anoth.  "I know that, but that's not going to help us get out of the trouble were in," she frowned at the reading in front of her.

          "What?"

          "We've fixed everything, but the weapons still haven't come back on line,"

          "Maybe, there's something wrong with the generator," Zekk suggested.

          "It's possible," she conceded.  It could be that after all those years without maintenance it had broken down.

"I'll go see what I can do,"

"I know where it is," she said, "I'll go,"

Frowning, Zekk said, "you shouldn't go alone,"

"I'll be fine," she said, brushing aside his concern.  "You go back to the control room because the second I get the generator working again, you can start firing the ion cannons," when he didn't move, she said, "I'm in charge, remember?  That's an order I just gave you, now follow it,"

He didn't know why he listened to her – it was not as if she had ever followed anything he had told her to do, but he headed back to the control room regardless.  He knew she could take care of herself – most of the time that is.

"What's the status of the Vong ship?"  Ganner asked Riley.

Riley ignored the flashing blip that was getting closer to their current position.  "They're just sitting there," he replied.

"Let's hope it stays that ways,"

While Jaina had chosen Zekk to help her fix the defense systems – much to Ganner's dismay – he had assigned himself the task of getting out a warning message to Master Skywalker, while Riley was busy monitoring the status of the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser.

Ganner was no computer genius, and he figured that was one of the reasons he had been unsuccessful in getting a message out.  The other reason being because it was very likely they were being jammed.  He had to keep trying, though, or else Luke and whoever else he had aboard his ship would be walking straight into the arms of the waiting warship.

He continued going through the different communication frequencies, still getting nothing more then annoying static.  When he did come across an open channel he nearly passed by it.

Riley noticed Ganner's triumphant expression.  "You found one?"

"Yeah, but I don't even know if the signal's strong enough to do much good,"

"Too bad you'll never know," Riley said in a regretful voice.

The warning of danger came too late for Ganner.  The butt of Riley's concealed blaster smacked against the side of his head with such force he dropped to the floor like a tonne of duracrete bricks.  Fighting to stay conscious, he willed his body to get up, but he remained where he was.

"Sorry, Ganner," Riley said, sounding anything but regretful this time. "But I can't have you getting off a warning to Skywalker.  And now that you know who I am I have no choice but to kill you," he aimed his blaster at Ganner's head.

"At least Rhysode knows now that I'm not the one who betrayed us to the Vong," said Zekk, his own blaster out and pointed at Riley.

"You wouldn't shoot a fellow Jedi, would you?"

"No I wouldn't," Zekk said, inching closer to Riley.  "But you're not a Jedi.  You're a traitor,"

"Traitor is such a harsh word, Zekk, don't you think?  But I guess you're the expert on traitors, seeing that you were one yourself at one time,"

Not wavering, Zekk said, "put down the blaster Riley,"

"I don't think so," he said and shot a round of blaster fire in Zekk's direction.

Zekk dove for cover behind a console that smoked and sparked with each shot that hit it.  Without thinking or feeling, he stood up and started shooting where he thought Riley would be.  His shots came close, but Riley was a trained Jedi, and managed to avoid each one.

When Zekk ducked back down to avoid another burst of fire, Riley took off down the corridor, firing over his shoulder as he went.  Zekk started after him but soon gave up on the pursuit.  Riley would not be coming back, he was sure of that.  He would wait somewhere for his Vong friends to show up.  There was no way he would attempt another attack when he was outnumbered three to one.

He holstered his blaster and jogged over to Ganner, who had managed to get himself into a sitting position.  Blood was gushing out from beneath the hand that he had put over the wound.

Zekk reached into one of the larger pockets on his utility jacket and pulled out the portable med kit he was carrying with him.  The supplies in it were basic, and it would not do much good for a life-threatening injury, but he was sure Ganner would survive a little bump on the head if he stopped the bleeding.  He took out a graft bandage and much to Ganner's disgust – and Zekk's – he put it over the wound.

"So, I guess you saved my life," Ganner said, sounding as if death would have been preferable over having Zekk come to his rescue. 

"I guess I did,"

Before Ganner could respond they both heard Jaina's voice say, "what happened?"

"Riley's the traitor," Zekk informed her.

"Where is he now?"  Jaina asked when she reached Ganner's side.

"I don't know," Zekk said with a shrug, "he took off after some exchanged blaster fire,"

"Then he must be the one who sabotaged the generator, because when I reached it all the cables had been cleanly cut through," she said.  "Ganner did you manage to get out a warning?"

"No.  Riley stopped me before I had the chance,"

"Then we need to see if we can still get one out," said Jaina, taking charge again.  Before she tried the com, the base's sensors caught her attention.  "Uh-oh, we've got trouble," 

Trouble was an understatement.

"How big?"  Zekk asked, coming over to get a look at the readings.

"Big.  Coralskippers and a couple of other transports heading for the surface.  They'll be here in minutes and without any defenses it won't take them long to get in here.  We only have one option left,"

"What's that?" Zekk asked.

"There's a trap door in one of the rooms that leads outside.  There should be a speeder at the end of the tunnel that we can use to get a head start on the Vong,"

Jaina had no idea where they were going to go once they reached the speeder.  They couldn't run across the planet.  The Vong would catch them long before that happened.  They just had to buy themselves time until one of them thought of a better plan.

"Are you okay to walk?" She asked Ganner, trying to mask the concern in her voice.

"I'm fine," he assured her, but allowed her to give him a hand in getting up.

When Ganner appeared to be steady on his feet, Jaina led them at a hurried pace to where the trap door lied.  Riley didn't know of its existence, but once they were out in the open it would only be at matter of hours – or if they were lucky – days before the Yuuzhan Vong found and killed them.

Traveling through hyperspace was something Anakin had found himself doing a lot of lately.  The only difference this time was the outcome of this trip could change the fate of the galaxy in a huge way.

He sat alone in the back compartment of the _Shadow Chaser_, while Tahiri was up in the cockpit with his Uncle, continuing to fill him in on every bit of information she could remember about the Tsirran.  That gave Anakin time to think.  Something else he had been doing more then his usual share of in recent days.

Not surprising, it was Tahiri who occupied his thoughts.  He could not even begin to describe how happy he was to have her back in his life, to be able to hold her again…but she was different somehow, and he wondered if anyone else noticed the changes.  She was no longer the chatterbox girl he used to know, and she fought more aggressively with a lightsaber then he had ever seen her do before.  But the most disturbing part was how she would go off into the jungle for hours – alone.  Tahiri hated being alone.  She had always wanted someone or a whole crowd of people to talk to.  She loved attention and that's why he was having a hard time understanding her strange behaviour.  It didn't help him to figure out what was going on with her when the majority of the time she kept her thoughts and feelings locked up and away from him.  Tahiri had always been like an open book to him and vice versa, but now, it seemed as though she was fighting hard to keep her thoughts from him.  She had never put up barriers to keep him out before.  That was what had him worried that her experience with the Yuuzhan Vong was a lot more serious then she was letting on.

She knew that he knew she was keeping stuff hidden from him, but he had told her he would give her time and that when she was ready to talk about it, he would be there.  He only wished she wouldn't wait too long to let him help her deal with whatever was bothering her.

"Master Skywalker says we'll be coming out of hyperspace shortly," Tahiri announced, coming over to sit beside him.

He nodded but did not reply.

"You're still worried we can't trust them, aren't you?"

"I can't help it, Tahiri.  The Yuuzhan Vong are ruthless killers, and the Tsirran look a little to much like their cousins for my tastes,"

His distrust was linked to the fact that the Vong had taken people close to him.  First Chewie and then her.  He didn't come out and say it because she already knew all that.

"Anakin, it's okay," she said, grabbing a hold of his hand.  "Sometimes I'm not sure if I trust them,"

Surprised, he said, "I didn't know that,"

"There's a lot about me you don't know,"

He shot her a questioning look.  What had she meant by that?  His Uncle's voice broke through the ship's com system though, before he could question her about it.

"Anakin, Tahiri, get up here.  There's a Yuuzhan Vong warship orbiting Anoth,"

The two of them raced to the cockpit and joined Luke up there.  All they had to was glance out the view port and they knew the situation was grim.

"Have they seen us?"  Tahiri said to the Jedi Master.

"Their sensors must have alerted them the second we came out of hyperspace," Luke said.

"But I don't get it," Tahiri said, confused.  "The Vong don't know Anoth exists, but even if they did they wouldn't know how to find it," her eyes widened in sudden realization.  "Unless -"

"Someone gave them the coordinates," Anakin finished for her.

"Or," said Tahiri, "we could be missing the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong knew about Anoth all along.  It could be a coincidence they're here when we are,"

"Coincidence?"  Anakin snorted.  "I doubt it.  Besides, they've been pushing towards the core.  It wouldn't make any sense for them to waste time with an uninhabited rock in the middle of nowhere.  Someone had to have tipped them off that we were meeting with the Tsirran here.  That's the only explanation that makes sense,"

"You may be right, Anakin," his Uncle said, "but for the moment, I don't think it matters how the Yuuzhan Vong found Anoth.   It appears we that have attracted their attention,"

"We can't leave the team down on Anoth," said Anakin.

"I have no intention of leaving.  We're going to find a spot to hid until we figure out how deal with this situation we're in,"

"What about the Tsirran?  They're walking right into a trap?"  Anakin could not believe he actually cared.

"I think I may be able to solve that problem," Tahiri said to them.

There's still 4 more chapters to come!!


	14. Boys Will Be Boys

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:  BOYS WILL BE BOYS 

          Jaina had memorized the entire layout of the stronghold from the map her Uncle had provided for her, but the secret trap door would not be found on it.  He had been sure to tell her about it though, before she had left for Anoth.

          When they reached the room that had once served as the Solo children's playroom, Jaina opened the closet door and then walked over to the dresser and opened the third drawer.  Immediately after she did those two things, a square on the metal floor slid aside, revealing a dark hole, just large enough for an adult human to squeeze through.

          Without hesitation, Jaina dropped down it, followed shortly after by Zekk and Ganner.  When they were all in, Jaina pulled the lever on the wall down and the piece of floor slid back to its original spot as if it had never moved, leaving the three Jedi in total darkness.

          "How far away from the base does this tunnel lead?"  Ganner inquired.

          "I'm not sure.  Maybe two or three kilometers past the stronghold," Jaina answered.

          She heard a lightsaber ignite and saw Zekk had drawn his weapon, bathing the tunnel in a yellowish-orange light.

          "Watch where you're swinging that thing," Ganner growled at him.

          Zekk purposely brought his blade up close to the other Jedi's face.  "Keep your distance and you won't have to worry about any accidents,"

          "Don't start you two," Jaina said, sensing another fight about to break out between them.  She took out her own saber and led the way through the tunnel.

          It turned out that Jaina's calculations were fairly accurate.  They had walked for a little over two kilometers when the tunnel sloped upward and then came to an abrupt end.  Using her saber as a light source, she found a lever on the side and pulled down on it.  Immediately, the tunnel wall opened up into the gloomy, barren surface that was Anoth.  

          They had no trouble finding the speeder once they had climbed out of the passageway, which closed back into the natural rock formation once Jaina slapped the flat slab of rock beside it.

          Zekk looked doubtfully at the vehicle that had endured nearly two decades of fierce weather.

          "You don't think it'll work?"  Jaina said, interpreting his gaze.

          "It's all rusted and corroded on the outside," he said as Jaina climbed inside, "and who knows what shape the engines are in,"

But his doubts were erased when Jaina turned on the speeder and the engines roared to life.

          "I think it works," 

          "For once, I'm glad to be wrong,"

          The three of them had no problem fitting into the landspeeder since it was one of the old family models designed to fit up to five people comfortably.  Zekk sat alone in the back seat, while Ganner purposely sat up in the front with Jaina – which did not go unnoticed by Zekk.

          The second they were inside, Jaina hit the accelerator and they were off.

          "Uh-oh," Jaina said when she checked the instruments in front of her.

          Zekk did not like the sound of that.  They had only been on the move for ten minutes, what could have possibly gone wrong already?

          "I should have checked the fuel tank before we took off," she said, "because we're almost out of fuel,"

          To prove her right, the speeder started swaying up and down under her control.  Before long, the engine sounded like it was having a hard time keeping them in the air.

          "Hold onto something," Jaina told them, knowing what was going to happen.

          The speeder dropped like a stone, slamming into the ground.  If not for their crash webbing, they would have thrown free of the vehicle.

          Climbing out of the useless vehicle, Ganner said, "I guess we're walking the rest of the way,"

          Jaina nodded and began walking away from the speeder.

          "Hey," Zekk said, catching up to her, "do you even know where we're going?"

          "No, I don't," she admitted in a barely audible voice and kept on walking.

          From his spot near the doorway to the stronghold, Riley Walker watched the Yuuzhan Vong carrier craft touch down on Anoth's surface.  Tactical Advisor Zuh Veqq was the first to disembark from the living shop.  Followed closely by his legion of viscous warriors.

          Squaring his shoulders, Riley marched over to Veqq.  In a few, short strides, he was standing in front of the towering Tactical Advisor who stood more then a foot taller then him.

          "Where are they?"  Veqq ordered in basic.

          Riley was stunned.  No congratulations or so much as a pat on the back for a job well done.  Although he didn't think he actually wanted a Vong to pat him on the back.  "I think they are still inside,"

          Veqq's nostrils flared.  "You think?"

          "They discovered I was working for you and there was a fight, but I managed to escape,"

          Crossing his arms over his armored chest, Veqq said, "you mean you ran like the coward you are,"

          Riley swallowed.  This was not going at all how he had pictured it.  "I was outnumbered, so I hid and waited for your arrival.  The Jedi did not follow,"

          "What about the Tsirran?"

          Riley swallowed even harder.  "There are no Tsirran on Anoth, Tactical Advisor Veqq,"

          A scaly hand lashed out against Riley's nose, breaking it on contact.  Riley collapsed to his knees, blood pouring down his face.

          "You dare waste my time bringing me to a useless planet with no race's to conquer and then tell me my blood-enemy is not here, I should kill you where you lay, cowering in pain,"

          "The Tsirran were not due to arrive until my landing party was finished here," Riley quickly explained.  "It could be days yet before they arrive, but I had to get the coordinates to you then, when I was by myself on the ship because I didn't know when another opportunity would arise,"

          "Or perhaps you try to deceive me.  Perhaps you have rejoined the Jedi cowards and are helping to hide the Tsirran in this abomination," Veqq accused, pointing to the metal stronghold.

          "No, that's not true," Riley said, vigorously shaking his head. 

          "We shall see," Veqq said.  He motioned for his troops to enter the stronghold.  "My warriors will find out if you speak the truth,"

          Veqq's two personal guards hauled Riley to his feet. "When they find out I'm not lying, what about my reward?  We had a deal,"

          "You will get what you deserve," Zuh Veqq promised him.

          With inhumanly fast reflexes, Veqq reached out with his arm and wrapped a single fist around Riley's throat.  Riley did not even get the chance to struggle in the hold as Zuh Veqq's grip broke his neck within seconds.  The sounds of bones snapping were followed by the lifeless thud of Riley's body hitting the ground.

          "I believe you humans have a saying," Veqq began, looking down at Riley's corpse, "it goes 'once a traitor, always a traitor,'"

          Stepping over Riley's still form, Zuh Veqq grabbed his amphistaff from one of his guards and marched into the base.

          "What are you looking at?"

          "Watch where you're going,"

          "Stay out of my way,"

          "You don't want to mess with me when I'm angry,"

          They had been going on like that for hours, and Jaina had been doing her best to ignore it, but she was reaching her limit.  There was only so much non-stop bickering she could tolerate.  Ganner and Zekk had argued more this trip then she had ever had with her siblings in seventeen years.  They fought constantly about anything and everything.  It was driving her up the wall.  Enough was enough.

          "Can the two of you cut it out for five minutes?"  She practically screamed at them.  "There should be a small stream up ahead, I'm going to check it out.  Do you think the two of you can act like a civilized adults while I'm gone?"  She walked away from them before they could answer.  She needed a break from them – even ten minutes would be better than nothing.

          "Nice going, Ganner," Zekk congratulated him.

          "Don't blame this on me.  This isn't my fault.  She hates you, remember?"

          "What makes you think she isn't mad at you?"

          "Because I'm not the one who walked out on her,"

          Zekk had been waiting for Ganner to say something like that.  Now he had the excuse he had been looking for to hit him.  He reared back his fist and rammed it against Ganner's face.

          Ganner was unable to block it in time, but he reacted with a punch of his own.  Zekk had anticipated it though, and grabbed his fist in mid air to stop the blow.  Not deterred in the slightest, Ganner kicked out with his leg, sweeping Zekk's feet out from under him and knocking him onto his back.  

          "You think you can just show up whenever you want and she'll take you back," Ganner said, watching Zekk slowly get back to his feet.  "She doesn't want you,"

          Zekk laughed.  "And she wants you?"  

          Ganner took a running start at him, tackling Zekk to the ground.  He got in a couple of quick hooks with his left fist before Zekk managed to throw him off of him.  Breathing hard, Zekk jumped to his feet and yanked Ganner to his.  He slammed him up against a nearby wall of rock.

          Bleeding and bruised, Ganner said, "she was a mess when you left,"

          Zekk, who was in no better condition, said, "and I bet you were more then happy to help,"

          "Someone had to.  And it wasn't going to be you," Ganner brought up his elbow and whacked Zekk in the jaw with it hard, making Zekk slacken his hold.  Ganner took the opportunity to break out of it.

          They continued to battle, exchanging blows with their fists, until they both felt something powerful tug at their minds, forcing them to stop fighting.

          Hands on her hips, Jaina said, "I hope beating each other up has made you feel better because if the Vong have a search party looking for us, I'm sure they'll have no problems finding where we are with all the noise you two have been making.

          "You both have been going at it since we left Yavin Four, and I can't take it anymore," she said, completely fed up with them.  "So you two can either learn to get along from this point on, or I'll stun you both and when the Vong show up they can deal with you," when neither of them backed down, she added, "And if you think I'm not serious, just try me," to prove her seriousness, she yanked Zekk's blaster out of its holster and called it to her outstretched hand.  It took aiming the blaster at them for them to realize the seriousness of her threat and back away from each other.  

          Satisfied that they were listening to her, at least for the time being, Jaina handed Zekk back his blaster.  "Now that that's settled, let's get moving.  There's a stream not far from here,"

          She turned her back to them and headed for the stream.  When Ganner and Zekk started after her, they each made sure they kept a considerable distance from the other.

          And for the first time since beginning their trek on Anoth, there was absolute silence.

          It was late in the day when they reached the strip of water Jaina had been talking about.  Ganner and Zekk were quick to make use of it.  They used the reflections the water gave off to help clean themselves off.  Jaina planned to wait until they were finished to use it.

          Since she had barged in on their brawl, no one had spoken a word.  At first, she had been glad to have silence, but she had felt the air getting more tense over the last hour and feared another fight was brewing.

          "Still mad at me?"  Ganner asked her.

She had felt him approaching long before he had spoke, but could not be bothered to move somewhere else.  "What do you think?"  She said, glaring up at him.

He sat down on the dried up ground beside her.  "I'm not going to apologize for fighting with Zekk.  He had it coming,"

"Now, which one of us sounds like a child?  I feel like I've been playing referee to you two all day,"

Trying to defend his actions, Ganner said, "He's not the easiest person in the galaxy to get along with,"

"Don't try to blame all this on Zekk.  You're as much at fault as he is,"

"Why are you defending him?"  Ganner cried in disbelief.  "You don't owe him anything,"

"But _you_ do.  He saved your life,"

Ganner let out a snort.  "And I'm sure he loves having that hang over me head,"

"You are unbelievable," Jaina exclaimed.  "Zekk wouldn't save your life just so he could rub it in your face.  He's not like that,"

Ganner wanted to say how did she know what he was like anymore, but he kept his mouth shut.  He knew what a heated discussion that would start.  Then she would go and defend Zekk some more – something he had no desire to listen to.

Tired of fighting, Jaina said, "I wonder where Riley is,"

"Who knows?  He must know that the Vong aren't going to keep him around forever.  They'll want to take care of him before he decides to switch loyalties again,"

"I can't believe I didn't know he was a traitor,"

"None of us knew.  Neither did your Uncle.  Otherwise he never would have sent Riley with us.  I'm sure the Vong will reward their little henchman for telling them about the Tsirran and then giving them the coordinates to this place.  How did he get the coordinates in the first place?"

Jaina looked uncomfortable.  "How am I supposed to know that?"

"Maybe when you let him bring the ship out of hyperspace, for instance,"

Jaina's eyes widened.  "Are you saying this whole mess is my fault?"

"That's not what I said,"

"But it's what you were thinking,"

"Jaina, if you hadn't let yourself get distracted –"

"I wouldn't have been distracted if you and Zekk knew how to act like Jedi Knights instead of squabbling children.  How was I supposed to know what Riley was going to do?  You didn't,"

"I'm just saying – "

"No, you're blaming me for allowing the Vong to find Anoth and for us being stranded out here in the middle of nowhere," Jaina rose to her feet.  "You can be such a jerk, Ganner, you know that?" she said and then stormed off.


	15. A Change of Plans

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:  A CHANGE OF PLANS

"Can I take a look at that?"

Jaina silently handed over her data pad to Zekk so he could take a look at the map on it.

What had possessed her to come over to him in the first place, escaped Jaina but it beat sitting around feeling sorry for herself or going at it again with Ganner.

"We should go back," Zekk said when he was finished looking at it.

She gave him an incredulous look.  "And do what?  Have the three of us take on an entire force of Vong warriors?  I don't think even Anakin would try a stunt that crazy,"

"They wouldn't expect us to come back.  We'd have the element of surprise," he insisted.

"For about two minutes,"

"We could take our ship and slip out,"

"We don't even know if it's still in one piece,"

"I think it is," Zekk said, no trace of doubt in his voice.  "Think about, Jaina.  We weren't traveling in the speeder all that long, so if the Vong had sent out a search party, why haven't they found us yet?"

"But why else would the Vong have come down here?"  She answered her own question.  "They must think the Tsirran are here and that we're hiding them somewhere in the stronghold,"

Zekk nodded his head in agreement.  "Exactly.  But they've had hours to search the base.  They should have expanded their search by now,"

"It has to be Riley," Jaina said.  "He must have told them the Tsirran won't be arriving for days,"

"That would be my guess,"

"If we do go back, they'll be waiting for us,"

"You've never shied away from a fight before," Zekk said to her.  "If I remember correctly, you usually run towards it with open arms.  What's changed?"

"Nothing's changed.  It's just the reason we never tried to shoot our way out of here in the first place was because we were outnumbered twenty to one.  Those odds haven't changed,"

"But the situation is different.  Instead of dozens of Vong skips flying threw the air, the majority are grounded here.  We'll only have to worry about the one warship,"

"You hope.  We don't know they don't have more then one ship up there.  Who knows how many more ships could have showed up since we abandoned the stronghold,"

"We can't keep running, Jaina," Zekk pointed out.  "It's not getting us anywhere.  Sure, it was necessary in the beginning to get us some distance from the Vong, but the only way we're ever going to get out of here is to stand our ground and fight,"

She hated to admit it but he was right.  "So what's the plan when we reach the stronghold?"

"Since I thought of going back, I figured I would leave it up to you to come up with a plan.  You are in charge after all," he added.

_Of course, how could I forget?_

"Did you get a message out?" Anakin said to Tahiri.  She had spent the last hour sitting behind the com station.

"Yeah, I did," she replied.  "I just hope they get it,"

"They will, if they're monitoring their communications," he shook his head in amazement.  "Using the com's natural interference and static to send a message.  I wonder if anyone else has thought of doing that,"

"It's no big deal.  I mean, it's only good for sending short transmission, or the message gets too confusing,"

"Still, it's a perfect way to send a transmission when the com channels might be monitored.  It would just be dismissed as static.  Did you help the Tsirran come up with this?" 

He sounded impressed and she hated to disappoint him.  "The Tsirran came up with it on their own.  Through the planets the Vong have conquered, their scientists have used planetary communication devices to monitor our transmissions.  The Tsirran who were posing as Vong warriors would use this technique when they got near a com as a way of contacting others without making themselves look suspicious.  I just learned how to use it,"

"Just to have learned how to interpret and send a message is impressive enough,"

It felt weird having Anakin compliment her like that.  Technical junk was what he was always so good at it.  She would usually be the one amazed at what he could do, and at the same time not understand any of it.  She found she liked impressing him.

"How's it going?"  Luke said, joining the two of them at the com station.

"I got out a transmission," Tahiri reported.  "We'll know soon whether they got it,"

"In the meantime," Luke began, "we should get ready to make the run down to Anoth – even if the Tsirran don't show in time.  Any suggestions on how we're going to accomplish that?"

"We make a run down to Anoth's surface," began Anakin.  "Master Skywalker and I will jump out of the ship without it landing and then Tahiri blasts off.  The Vong will think we just made a quick run down to the surface and then took off again," he sounded as if he had the entire plan worked out in his head for quite some time.

"It sounds like a plan," Tahiri said, "except I should be the one going with you,"

"Someone needs to stay behind and fly the ship,"

"Someone who knows what they're doing," she countered.  "You let me fly and there won't be a ship to come back to,"

"Tahiri's right," Luke said, siding with her.  "The second we make a run for Anoth, coralskippers will be hot on our tail.  Even an experienced pilot will have a difficult time evading them.  That's why I'm staying with the ship and you two will see if you can find Jaina and the others,"

"Then Tahiri should stay with you and work the _Shadow Chaser's_ weapons.  I can track Jaina on my own,"

"Stop trying to get rid of me," Tahiri snapped at him.

"I'm not.  I'm just trying to look at the situation from a logical perspective,"

Hands on her hips, Tahiri said hotly, "that's a load of bantha fodder, Anakin, and you know it,"

Anakin turned to his Uncle.  "Could you give us a minute?"

Luke nodded.  "I'll go work on a trajectory that will get us down the Anoth the fastest," he said and then he left them alone.

"You have some nerve, Anakin Solo," Tahiri exploded the second she felt Luke's presence was out of earshot, "trying to keep me here when you know you're going to need my help.  And you think by getting rid of Master Skywalker you can convince me otherwise,"

"Tahiri, would you calm down?   I'm not the enemy," Anakin said, trying to be reasonable with her – which was not always an easy thing to do.  "I asked my Uncle to leave because I didn't think you'd want me to say this in front of him,"

"Say what?  That you're trying to keep me safe and that I should be grateful for that?"

"That's not it at all," he said, "I know you're planning on doing something stupid if you go down there,"

She refused to meet his gaze.  "I don't know what you're talking about,"

"It's written all over your face.  You're out for blood and you don't care if it kills you.  Don't tell me you're not because I was the same way when I thought I'd lost you,"

"Anakin, I'll be okay down there," she insisted.

"I'm not so sure,"

"Look," she said, losing her temper again, "if anyone knows whether I'm ready to face the Vong, it's me.  _Not_ you.  I'm going whether you like it or not,"

And Tahiri, being Tahiri, stormed off without letting Anakin get another word in.


	16. Teamwork

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:  TEAMWORK

          Crouching low, Jaina cautiously peered out from her hiding spot behind a stack of boulders.  The stronghold looked exactly as they had left it.  There was no sign that the Yuuzhan Vong were even there – save for the dozens of coralskippers and two small carrier ships surrounding the building.  However, the only Yuuzhan Vong in sight were the ones standing guard outside the _Fearless Rancor._  If only they could get to it…

          "I only see two warriors," Jaina informed Zekk and Ganner, "and they're guarding our ship,"

          "There could be a whole bunch of them on the other side of the building and we would never know it until it was too late," Ganner was quick to remind her.

          "They must be waiting for the Tsirran to arrive," Jaina said.  "That's got to be the reason why they're still here,"

          "So we better get out of here real fast before the Vong get tired of waiting and take their love for technology out on our only escape off this rock," Zekk commented.

          Ganner said, "so what's the brilliant plan?"

          "There's an access hatch on top of the ship.  I'll climb the ship and go in through the hatch.  You two," she said, pointing at the both of them, "will distract the two guards by the boarding ramp, giving me time to get the ship ready for takeoff.  Then I'll come help you finish them off and we'll blast out of here,"

          Zekk frowned at her.  "When I said you should come up with the plan, it was because I thought it would be a _good_ one,"

          "It was the only thing I could think of.  But if either of you has a better idea, I'd like to hear it,"

As she had expected, they both said nothing.  "That's what I thought.  Now let's get moving,"

          Zekk would be the first to admit that he disliked Ganner Rhysode in every way, and he was positive the arrogant Jedi felt the same animosity towards him.  If they wanted to survive, though, they were both going to have to trust each other long enough to get off the lifeless rock known as Anoth.

          He and Ganner were standing about twenty yards from the ship, hidden behind the walls of the stronghold, waiting until Jaina was in position before going into action.  She had gone the long way around to make it to the side of the _Rancor _not being guarded to keep herself from being seen.

          They both heard the sound of a double click over Ganner's com link.  That was the signal.

          They both took out their sabers, and nodded to each to show they were ready before jumping around the corner.  With their ignited energy blades in hand, they rushed the two unsuspecting warriors.

          If the two warriors were startled or even surprised by their presence, they didn't show it.  With a fierce battle cry, they charged the two oncoming Jedi.

          Ganner took the one on the left, leaving Zekk to deal with the remaining warrior.

          Using the force to propel herself on top of the ship, Jaina landed several meters away from the access hatch.

          She knew Zekk and Ganner had got her signal because she could hear the fighting going on below.  She glanced down briefly, watching the battle going on beneath her, but there was nothing she could do for them.  Her first priority was to get the _Rancor_ set to fly.

          She punched her access code into the keypad beside the hatch, and with a depressurizing hiss it opened.

          She did not bother using the ladder – that would take too much time.  Summoning the force, she effortlessly made the ten-foot jump, landed upright, and sprinted to the cockpit.

          When Jaina reached it, she began running through a simplified startup cycle.  She thought about keeping the landing lights off but the moment she turned on the engines they would know someone was in the ship anyways.

          The sudden sound of a loud impact with the forward view port startled Jaina, causing her to look up from her work.

          Half a dozen Yuuzhan Vong were banging their amphistaffs against the glass, trying to get inside.

          "Just what I need," Jaina muttered to herself, while her fingers danced over the controls.  The view port was not designed to take a physical beating of that magnitude.  She could already see the glass starting to crack in certain spots.

          The vacuum of space would undoubtedly kill them if they lifted off with a shattered view port, but Jaina wasn't concerned about that problem.  There were vac suits in the storage locker with enough air to get them to a nearby planet.  What she was concerned about was if the glass broke before she managed to get them off the ground.  Six to one odds were not a fight Jaina was looking forward to.

          She had been in tight situations before – some much worse then this.  All she had to do was remain calm.  _Easier said then done_, she thought to herself as the first pieces of glass fell onto the instruments in front of her.

          "Now would be a good time, Jaina!"  Zekk shouted into his wrist com before diving to the side to avoid a blow from an amphistaff.

          Her voice came back tiny over the com.  "Just give me a second,"

          "We don't have a second," Ganner yelled into his own com.

          Jaina could see he was right.  More Vong were heading their way – and fast.  "I'm going to open the boarding ramp, but hurry up and get inside cuz I've got a pile of Vong trying to break in through the view port,"

          She cried out and quickly turned away as shattered glass was sprayed in her direction.  Amphistaffs were gouging holes in the view port, threatening to put a hole in _her_ if she got too close.  She would never be able to get them out of them if she couldn't even reach the controls without risking poisonous venom being shot in her face.  Forgetting about escaping for the moment, she pulled out her lightsaber, preparing to slice the extended amphistaffs to pieces.  Her blade was barely ignited, when the plunging amphistaffs pulled back out of the glass.

          She was surprised by the effect her drawn weapon had on the warriors, but then she saw Anakin and Tahiri, with a group of unscarred Yuuzhan Vong – and realized they were the reason the warriors had halted their attempts to get to her.  It clicked in her head then that the smooth skinned Vong had to be Tsirran, why else would they be fighting along side two humans?

          She forced herself to look away from the battle and continued prepping the ship for take off.  With the Vong out of her hair – at least temporarily – she allowed herself to breathe a bit easier.

          Ganner finished off his Vong and jumped in to help Zekk with his.  Battling a fierce Yuuzhan Vong warrior was never an easy feat – not even for a Jedi, but together, Ganner and Zekk managed to finish off the warrior with minimal damage to themselves.  Knowing it would only be a matter of seconds before the reinforcements arrived, they sprinted towards the ship and up the extended boarding ramp.

          Ganner slammed the panel that closed the ramp.  "We're in," he said, panting hard, "now get us out of here,"

          "Not yet.  Anakin and Tahiri are still outside with four Tsirran.  Get into a vac suit and tell Zekk to do the same.  Bring me up one and get two ready for Anakin and Tahiri.  Then secure any loose objects because everything's going to go flying when we hit space," she didn't know what the Tsirran were going to do because they did not have a vac suit big enough for them, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

          Jaina couldn't stop herself from being impressed in which the manner the Tsirran were able to handle their Vong cousins.  They were more then an even match for the Vong, and with the odds even, her brother and Tahiri did not have to deal with more then one Vong at a time.  While the warriors on each side exchanged vicious blows and sustained numerous injuries, it was the Tsirran who were victorious.  Their reflexes were quicker and their movements faster.  They even managed to lend a hand to Anakin and Tahiri in defeating their own warriors.  In the end, there was only Yuuzhan Vong bodies laying crumpled on the ground.  But there were still more warriors coming and it would be a different story if they didn't get out of there right then.  The Tsirran looked eager to fight more warriors, but their promise to Luke Skywalker not to unnecessarily endanger the others prevented them from tyring to extract any more revenge from the race that had nearly wiped them out.  

          Aftering leading them into the ship, Anakin left the Tsirran – most of whom were injured – with Tahiri and hurried up to the cockpit.

          "Sorry we didn't get here sooner," Anakin said upon joining his sister.

          Jaina lifted the _Fearless Rancor_ up off the ground and indicated to the useless view port with her free hand.  "What are the Tsirran going to do?  The second we hit space –"

          "It's been taken care of," he said, taking a seat beside her.  "They're going to lock themselves in one of the cabins.  Tahiri's giving them something to knock them out.  They said they should be able to survive without oxygen long enough for us to transfer them over to Uncle Luke's ship,"   

"What about Ganner and Zekk?  Are they in their suits?"

          Anakin nodded.

          "Take the weapons," Jaina told her brother.

          "I wouldn't be too worried about that if I were you,"

          She looked at him as if he were crazy.  "What are you talking about?  I'm picking up twenty skips hot on our tail,"

          "Check your sensors again," Anakin said calmly.  "What else do you see?"

          She did as he said.  Indeed there were a whole bunch of ships the sensors could not identify coming in ahead of them.  The only thing the sensors could tell her was the ships were partially alive.

          "Tsirran ships," she said, coming to a full understanding of what Anakin had been talking about.

          "Tahiri sent a coded message to them," Anakin explained.  "And it looks like they got it,"

          The Tsirran ships covered them, allowing the _Rancor _to quietly slip away without taking any damage.  The Tsirran ships fired away at the skips with such firepower that they blasted away large chunks of the yorrik coral, forcing the Yuuzhan Vong cruiser hanging in space to attack the Tsirran ship and forget about stopping the _Fearless Rancor_ from escaping.

The _Shadow Chaser_ was waiting for them when they reached open space away from the ongoing battle.  Jaina sent a message quickly explaining their condition to her Uncle. Luke sent his acknowledgement and docked against the damaged ship.  In his own vac suit, Luke helped them bring over the unconscious Tsirran.  There was no time to apply any sealing solvent to the broken view port, with the Tsirran still holding off the Vong ships, so they left the _Fearless Rancor_ docked to the _Shadow_ _Chaser_ and settled in the quantum armored ship with Luke.  

With Tahiri's help, Luke sent a coded message to the Tsirran ships, telling them their distaction was no longer needed and to make a run for it, and then punched in the coordinates for a hyperspace jump.  Just before they made the jump, they could see the Tsirran ships backing off and then there was nothing but the starlines of space stretched out around them.

Now that the danger was behind them, Luke informed his passengers that they were heading back to Yavin Four – where the head of the Tsirran, Eus-ai Raak, would be waiting for them when they arrived.

There's still one more chapter to come.  I'll hopefully be able to post it Sunday night (if my Internet doesn't screw up that is).


	17. The Painful Truth

A/N:  Tahiri's experience with death and her feelings now that she's alive again were inspired by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "After Life".

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:  THE PAINFUL TRUTH

          The Tsirran's visit to the jungle moon lasted only a few days.  Now that the Yuuzhan Vong knew they had not only managed to avoid extinction but had found their way into this galaxy as well, there was no point in trying to set up another secret meeting in some remote area of space.  Yavin Four was as good a place as any in Tahiri's opinion.  True, Riley had been a traitor, and there were probably more Jedi defectives – maybe even right there at the Academy, but she was sure that the good ones still greatly outnumbered the bad.  A few traitors wouldn't press their luck against a planet full of Jedi.  Neither did she think the Yuuzhan Vong were up for that kind of full-fledged assault just yet.

          Master Skywalker had spent hours in his office alone with the Tsirran elder.  Neither one had come out until they had found a solution that would satisfy both parties.  Of course, Tahiri and the rest of the Jedi Knights were clueless as to what sort of arrangement had been worked out.  Master Skywalker and Eus-ai Raak were keeping tight-lipped about the details of the agreement between the Jedi and the Tsirran.  After the whole Riley incident, it made sense that they would want to keep quiet until everything had been finalized.

          What Tahiri did know was that the two would be meeting again at an unnamed location in about month's time to finalize the agreement – she hoped.

          After a brief good bye with Eus-ai Raak, and his two honour guards that had accompanied him, they had departed for their hideout that for the moment still remained a secret.

          To ensure that no sabotage would be done to their living vessel, Luke Skywalker had closed the hanger bay to everyone else while they were there.  The Jedi Master had not wanted to take any chances.

          While everyone had been so preoccupied with the Tsirran it had given Tahiri the chance to spend time by herself, something she had not had a great deal of since returning to the Academy nearly a week ago.  It wasn't like she was purposely trying to cut herself off from everyone.  She just needed time to act like she was feeling, instead of how everyone – even Anakin – expected her to act.

          On her way back from the jungle, she had stopped by the Grand Audience Chamber.  As she had expected, it was deserted with all the trainee classes done for the day.

          She sat at the edge of the stage, swinging her legs back and forth.  It didn't seem like all that long ago, she had been a dirty, barefoot child who had decided to do some exploring in the temple and had stumbled into one of Luke Skywalker's lectures.  _My life sure has changed a lot since then_, she thought to herself.  And not all the change has been for the better.

          "Tahiri?"  Called the voice of Jacen Solo as he walked into the Grand Audience Chamber.  He saw the startled look on her face, and when he got closer to her he said, "sorry.  I didn't mean to make you jump," she looked like she had been a million light years away.  "Anakin's been looking for you,"

          "I was just out for a walk," she said.  "Nothing big,"

          "I know I may be out of line when I say this," Jacen began uncomfortably, "because it's really none of my business, but you seem to be spending an awful lot of time by yourself since you've been back,"

          "What can I say?  I enjoy having some quiet time to myself,"

          "From what Anakin's told me, you would rather spend time with a slimy Hutt then have no one to talk to,"

          That was true – rather, it had been true, but she not going to go into some lengthy explanation about how she had changed with Anakin's older brother.

          "You know, Anakin really cares about you," Jacen said, trying a different approach.  "And my brother's not the sort of person who openly admits how he feels about someone unless they mean a lot to him,"

          She stared down at her feet.  "Anakin's part of the problem,"

          Jacen blinked, confused.  "I think you've lost me,"

          "Never mind," she told him and slid off the stage.

          "Tahiri, everyone knows what you've been through.  No one expects you to come back here and just be okay,"

          She let out a bitter laugh.  "Yes they do.  They all expect me to be happy and grateful that I've been given a second chance.  Who in their right mind would be upset that they'd been given another shot at life?"

          "Are you happy?"

          "Do you know why no one asked me what it felt like to die?"  She said, ignoring his question.  "Because they were all scared of what I would say.  They're all scared of death when they don't know a thing about it," 

          She contemplated letting it go at that.  She didn't owe Jacen or anyone else an explanation of why she had been acting the way she had, but she couldn't stop herself from continuing what she had started.

          "For that brief time I was gone," she said to him, "I was happy.  I don't know where I was but I remember feeling safe.  My parents were there.  I hadn't seen them in so long that the memories I still have of them were beginning to fade," she said, unable to keep her voice from quivering.  "But it was _them_.  They were real and they took care of me.  Then I was ripped out of there by a creature that only wanted me alive so it could experiment on me.  You have no idea what it's like to be in this perfect place and then open your eyes to face the killers that sent you there,"

          Jacen did not know what to say to her.  Really, what could he say that would make the obvious pain she was feeling inside ease up in the slightest?  But she didn't look like she had expected him to say anything.

"Where I was," she continued, "I knew nothing but happiness, and then I came back here where there's nothing but pain, suffering and betrayal.  People hurt and kill each other and then go on with their lives like nothing's happened.  When you look at it, we're all monsters underneath who are no better then the Vong,"

          "You should be telling Anakin this," Jacen said gently.  "Or even Kam and Tionne.  They would understand what you're going through,"

          "Tell them what?" Tahiri said, her voice shaking even more as she was close to tears now.  "That I wish I was dead?  That I hate it here and there's nothing I can do to change that?  They can't understand if they haven't gone through it themselves,"

          "You're not giving them enough credit,"

          "Telling them will only make things worse.  They've already been through enough when they thought I had died.  If I tell them how I feel it will only hurt them more, and I don't want to do that,"

          "Tahiri, you can't keep something like this hidden forever,"

          "I'm not going to hurt my family or friends any more," she shook her head.  "I don't even know why I told you any of this, but you have to promise me you won't say anything to anyone.  Not to Tenal Ka.  Not to Kam and Tionne, and especially not to Anakin,"

          "If that's what you want," he said to her, "but you should think about it first before you make any final decisions,"

          "I have thought about it.  Over and over again.  This is what I want.  Trust me, it will be better for everyone this way,"

          "Hey, what's going on?"  Said Anakin, walking into the chamber.

          "Nothing," Tahiri said instantly.  "Jacen was just asking me for advice on, um, Tenal Ka," she said, thinking quickly.

          Anakin looked over at his brother.  He didn't confirm Tahiri's statement, nor deny it.  _Probably because he's too embarrassed to admit he's asking for advice about his girlfriend,_ Anakin thought, managing to keep the smirk off his face.

          He turned back to Tahiri.  "I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a swim or something,"

          "I'd love to," she said, taking his hand in hers.  "We're finished here, right?"  She gave Jacen a look that meant their previous conversation was over.

          He did not know what else to do except say, "yeah, we're finished,"

          She shot him a grateful look before turning and exited the chamber with Anakin, hand-in-hand.

          Jacen watched them go.  He had not expected her to make that kind of a confession to him, but he had given her his word, so he would keep her secret, even though he thought she was making a huge mistake.  Or maybe he was the one making the mistake by keeping it for her.

          With the Tsirran gone, Jaina would finally be able to get to work on replacing the _Rancor's_ badly damaged view port.  She could have worked on it down on the landing field, but they were in the middle of the rainy season on Yavin Four, and she did not want to risk having a flooded ship on her hands.  The sealant she had applied when they had returned to the Academy would hold out any rain until she got around to fixing it.

          She got on the turbolift and rode it down to the basement where the hanger bay was.  When she reached her stop, she exited the lift, toolbox in hand – and stopped in her tracks when she saw the _Fearless Rancor's_ glass viewport had already been replaced.

          It could not have been fixed for more then a few hours since she had only brought the ship in late last night.  _But who else would fix it_? she thought as she approached it.  Anakin might have, but he would have told her he was going to do it.  

She had her answer when a lone figure came around the other side of the ship, wiping his grease stained hands on a rag.

"I hope you don't mind," Zekk said when he saw her standing there.  "But when I was done working on my ship I had nothing better to do with my time,"

"It's all right," she said to him.  "Replacing a broken view port really isn't a big thing,"

Zekk tossed the rag onto the hull.  "So, uh, how are you and Ganner?"  He tried to ask it nonchalantly as if he didn't care, but Jaina knew better.

"We're okay.  He apologized even though he was right.  If I hadn't been distracted none of that would have happened,"

"Everyone makes mistakes, Jaina,"

"Mistakes?  I screwed up.  Big time.  And now the Vong know all about Anoth, so the New Republic can cross that off its long list of places where it can't send refugees, thanks to me,"

"You were in charge and you messed up.  Big deal.  You don't think everyone who's ever been in charge hasn't screwed up a few times?"  He said to her.  "You didn't know Riley was working for the Vong and neither did anyone else –"

"Is this the part where you're going to tell me it wasn't my fault?  Because if it is I think I'll stop listening,"

"All right, I won't.  But there were two other people with you on Anoth who were just as clueless, so try not to beat yourself up too much,"

Jaina tried to frown at him, but failed.  "Did I ever tell you I hate it when you're right?"

Zekk grinned.  "All the time,"

"Are you staying?"  She asked before an uncomfortable silence could fall.

"I got nothing better to do," then, more seriously he added, "your Uncle said I could have my old room back, so it looks like my stay is going to be more or less permanent," he told her.  "I'll brush up on my training, meet the new students that have come in while I was gone, and try to fix things between us," he said, locking his gaze on hers.

_He just didn't give up, did he?_

"I don't expect us to be okay anytime soon, but I want another chance at being back in your life,"

They had been done this road before.  "Zekk –"

"I never thought telling you about my past would affect you the way it did,"

"That's just like you Zekk," she said, forcing a coldness to her tone.  "Never thinking about anyone but yourself,"

"A person can change a lot in six months,"

She looked away from him.  "I don't know Zekk,"

He was making her so confused.  How many times in her head had she gone through a scenario just like this?  And every time she had been strong, telling Zekk she wanted him to stay out of her life.  She was finding it a lot harder thing to do when he was standing right in front of her.

Seeing the kind of crossroad she was at, he moved closer to her and said, "I love you, Jaina"

He tilted her chin upwards, then leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers – and she didn't resist.  She kissed him back hungrily, letting her toolbox fall uselessly to the ground.  She could no longer deny that she had wanted to be able to kiss him again for some time now.  She was filled with dozens of conflicting emotions and feelings running around inside her.  She found herself enjoying what was happening.  Enjoying the feeling of being in Zekk's arms again.  

She shook her head and pushed him away.  "No," she all but shouted at him.  What had she done?  How could she have let that happen?

"Jaina – "

"Don't Zekk," she said backing away from him.  "I can't do this with you anymore.  It hurts too much,"

She picked up her fallen toolbox and practically ran away from him.  She headed for the turbolift, but when the doors opened, she hesitated before getting in.  "Stay if you want," she said without looking back at him, "but don't stay because of me.  Because we're finished,"

She strode into the lift and when the doors finally closed behind her, she sank to the floor and hugged her knees to her chest.  She refused to cry over him, though.  She was through with Zekk.  Besides, you don't cry over someone who means nothing to you.  And that's what she kept telling herself when the first tears started trickling down her cheeks.

THE END

And, as always, there will be a sequel.  I hope to get some of it posted soon, but I'm working on my first Harry Potter fic as well so it might take awhile.  Anyways, let me know what you think of the ending, and any other suggestions or comments you might have are greatly appreciated.  


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